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Division 

Section 


REASONABLE  RELIGION. 
EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG 
HIS  MESSAGE  &  TEACHING 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/reasonablereligiOOhodg 


REASONABLE  RELIGION. 
EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG 
HIS  MESSAGE  ^  TEACHING 
By  E.  BRAYLEY  HODGETTS 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  SWEDENBORG 

SOCIETY 


1923 

LONDON  AND  TORONTO 
J.  M.  DENT  &  SONS,  LTD 
NEW  YORK:  E.  P.  DUTTON  &  CO 


All  rights  reserved 


Printed  in  Great  Britain 


PREFACE 


The  theological  writings  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg  are 
spread  over  numerous  volumes*  They  have  been  before 
the  public  for  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  years* 
Originally  printed  in  Latin,  they  were  subsequently 
translated  into  ponderous  English,  and  later  into  many 
other  languages,  but  nobody  has  so  far  had  the  temerity 
to  endeavour  to  present  a  general  review  of  the  whole 
system* 

The  recent  achievements  of  science  and  the  general 
trend  of  ideas  have  tended  to  bring  Swedenborg  into 
greater  harmony  with  contemporary  thought  than  ever 
before,  and  the  interest  recently  awakened,  especially 
among  certain  members  of  the  scientific  world,  in  the 
supernatural  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  present 
is  a  favourable  time  for  the  popularisation  of  his 
remarkably  harmonious,  rational,  and  logical  philosophy* 

The  statement  of  Swedenborg's  views  has,  as  far  as 
possible,  been  reproduced  in  his  own  words. 

To  reproduce  these  teachings  fully  in  all  their  details 
and  ramifications  would  be  a  much  more  ambitious  task 
than  the  author  has  set  himself*  His  aim  has  been  rather 
to  outline  their  main  features  in  a  popular  form,  and  he 
ventures  to  hope  that  a  perusal  of  these  pages  may  stimulate 
the  reader  to  go  to  the  fountain-head  and  prosecute  further 
researches  for  himself  in  the  directions  most  interesting 
individually  to  him* 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

Introduction:  The  Man 

AND 

HIS 

Work 

♦ 

PAGE 

I 

L 

Life  and  Creation  ♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

25 

IL 

The  Origin  of  Evil 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

42 

III. 

Ethics 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

57 

IV. 

Sex  .... 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

70 

V. 

The  Governance  of  the 

World 

♦ 

♦ 

87 

VI. 

Revelation 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

104 

VII. 

Prayer 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

123 

VIII. 

The  Sacraments 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

i43 

IX. 

The  Church 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

159 

X. 

The  Soul ♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

181 

XI. 

The  Hereafter 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

197 

XII. 

The  Godhead  . 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

217 

Conclusion 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

238 

Index 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

♦ 

251 

Vll 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 

EMANUEL  SWEDENBORG 
HIS  MESSAGE  AND  TEACHING 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Man  and  His  Work 

Emanuel  Swedenborg  was  born  at  Stockholm  on 
January  29,  1688,  the  year  of  the  great  revolution  in 
England,  and  about  a  century  before  the  still  greater 
revolution  which  broke  out  in  France  in  1789*  By  a 
curious  coincidence  both  Swedenborg  and  his  eminent 
contemporary,  the  philosopher  Kant,  were  christened 
Emanuel,  God  with  us,  which,  in  the  case  of  Swedenborg 
at  least,  was  a  name  singularly  prophetic  and  appropriate* 
He  came  of  a  middle-class  stock  of  peasant  origin*  His 
father.  Dr*  Jesper  Swedberg,  was  a  Lutheran  divine  who 
eventually  became  a  bishop,  was  the  son  of  a  peasant 
of  Fahlen  called  Daniel  Isaacson,  and  had  adopted  the 
name  of  Swedberg  from  his  father's  estate  or  homestead, 
*  Sweden*'  Swedish  peasants,  like  those  of  Russia, 
have  no  family  names,  but  are  called  by  their  patronymics, 
thus  Daniel  Isaacson  was  the  son  of  Isaac  Nilson,  whose 
father  was  the  son  of  Nils  Otteson,  and  so  on*  Through 
a  successful  mining  venture  this  Daniel  Isaacson  had 
risen  from  comparative  poverty  to  affluence*  Very 
naturally  the  son  of  this  local  mining  magnate  married 
in  the  same  sphere  and  espoused  the  daughter  of  another 
mining  magnate,  Albrecht  Behm,  an  Assessor  of  the 
College  of  Mines,  a  position  similar  to  that  which  his  dis¬ 
tinguished  grandson  was  destined  to  fill  some  years  later* 

B 


2 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


Emanuel  was  the  third  child  and  second  son  of  his 
parents*  In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Dr*  Beyer,  Professor 
of  Greek  at  the  University  of  Gothenburg,  written  in 
1769,  Swedenborg  says  of  his  childhood  : 

From  my  fourth  to  my  tenth  year  I  was  constantly  engaged 
in  thought  upon  God  and  salvation,  and  the  spiritual  experi¬ 
ences  of  men  ;  and  several  times  I  revealed  things  at  which 
my  father  and  mother  wondered  ;  saying  that  angels  must 
be  speaking  through  me*  From  my  sixth  to  my  twelfth  year 
I  used  to  delight  in  conversing  with  clergymen  about  faith, 
saying  that  the  life  of  faith  was  love,  and  that  the  love  which 
imparted  faith  was  the  love  to  the  neighbour  ;  also  that  God 
gives  faith  to  every  one,  but  that  only  those  receive  it  who 
practise  that  love.  I  knew  of  no  other  faith  at  that  time  than  that 
God  was  the  Creator  and  Preserver  of  nature,  that  He  imparts 
understanding  and  a  good  disposition  to  men,  and  several 
other  things  that  follow  thence.  I  knew  nothing  then  of  that 
learned  faith  which  teaches  that  God  the  Father  imparts  the 
righteousness  of  His  Son  to  whomsoever,  and  at  such  times  as 
He  chooses,  even  to  those  who  have  not  repented  and  have  not 
reformed  their  lives*  And  had  I  heard  of  such  a  faith,  it 
would  have  been  then,  as  it  is  now,  above  my  comprehension* 

This  is  indeed  the  key-note  to  Swedenborg's  religious 
opinions*  The  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith  alone 
always  was  repugnant  to  him,  and  most  tremendously 
did  he  in  after  years  fulminate  against  it*  But  this  was 
to  come  much  later* 

In  1688,  when  he  was  born,  he  was  surrounded  by 
professors  of  the  Lutheran  faith*  His  father  was  acting 
court  chaplain  at  the  time,  and  it  was  in  the  capital 
that  the  first  three  or  four  years  of  the  child  were  spent. 
In  1692  the  father  was  made  pastor  of  the  rural  parish 
of  Vingaker,  where  for  a  few  brief  months  young 
Swedberg,  as  he  was  then,  tasted  the  delights  of  country 
life*  From  this  rural  parish  the  Rev*  Dr.  Jesper  Swed¬ 
berg  was  soon  promoted  to  be  dean  of  the  cathedral 
of  Upsala,  where  the  next  ten  years  were  passed  in  the 
cathedral  square  in  which  the  deanery  was  situated  :  here 
his  education  was  begun*  This  was  entrusted  to  a 
cousin  on  his  mother's  side,  one  Johannes  Moraeus, 


INTRODUCTION 


3 


afterwards  Dr*  Moraeus,  and  Councillor  Sandels  speaks 
of  *  the  thoughtful  care  which  was  bestowed  on  his 
education/ 

At  that  time  Upsala  had  a  population  of  not  more 
than  some  5000  inhabitants,  but  its  cathedral  was  con¬ 
sidered  one  of  the  finest  Gothic  buildings  in  northern 
Europe* 

His  mother  had  died  two  years  before,  but  his  father 
married  again,  some  eighteen  months  after  her  death,  a 
wealthy  widow,  Sarah  Bergia*  Swedenborg  also  lost  his 
elder  brother  at  about  the  same  time*  Of  his  remaining 
seven  brothers  and  sisters,  Anna,  sixteen  months  older 
than  he,  appears  to  have  been  his  favourite*  She  married, 
before  the  completion  of  her  seventeenth  year.  Dr.  Ericus 
Benzelius,  librarian  to  the  University  of  Upsala*  In 
1702  his  father  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Skara,  and  had 
to  remove  to  that  place,  but  he  himself,  who  had  by  this 
time  commenced  his  studies  at  the  University,  remained 
at  Upsala  till  1709*  At  the  University  he  was  dis¬ 
tinguished  for  his  Latin  verses,  and  it  would  seem  that 
he  was  regarded  in  his  own  circle  as  a  poet  of  some  promise* 
On  the  conclusion  of  his  University  studies  he  went  to 
live  with  his  father  at  the  episcopal  residence  of  Brunsbo, 
near  Skara,  and  vainly  tried  to  persuade  that  worthy 
prelate  to  permit  him  to  proceed  on  a  foreign  tour.  But 
Bishop  Swedberg  had  little  sympathy  with  his  son's 
Wanderlust ;  moreover,  funds  were  low  and  the  Bishop  was 
of  a  distinctly  frugal  disposition*  Writing  on  July  13, 
1709,  to  his  brother-in-law  Ben^elius,  the  ardent  young 
man  begged  him  to  plead  for  him  with  his  obdurate 
parent,  and  asked  him  to  recommend  him  an  English 
college  where  he  could  brush  up  his  mathematics,  physics, 
and  natural  history*  It  appears  that  at  that  early  date 
he  had  already  conceived  the  ambitious  plan  of  drawing 
up  a  summary  of  the  principal  discoveries  during  the 
last  few  centuries  in  these  branches  of  knowledge*  He 
also  mentioned  that  he  had  learned  the  art  of  book¬ 
binding  from  a  craftsman  who  had  been  binding  some 
books  for  his  father*  This  is  very  characteristic  of  the 
man,  so  eminently  industrious  and  practical*  Two  years 


4 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


later,  when  he  had  succeeded  in  carrying  out  his  scheme 
of  travel,  he  wrote  from  London  to  say  that  he  turned 
his  lodgings  to  some  use  and  changed  them  often* 
*  First/  he  says,  '  I  was  at  a  watchmaker's,  afterwards 
at  a  cabinet-maker's,  and  now  I  am  at  a  mathematical- 
instrument  maker's ;  from  them  I  steal  their  trades, 
which  some  day  may  be  of  use  to  me*'  He  learned  to 
make  brass  instruments  ;  and  later,  at  Leyden,  how  to 
grind  glass  for  lenses,  etc*,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able 
to  construct  appliances  he  could  not  afford  to  buy*  His 
brother-in-law  asked  him,  when  in  England,  to  purchase 
several  globes  for  the  Upsala  Library,  but  as  they  were 
too  expensive,  and  difficult  to  pack  and  transport  safely, 
he  was  instructed  to  obtain  the  printed  sheets,  which 
would  then  be  mounted  on  arrival,  and  as  the  makers 
refused  to  supply  these,  the  indomitable  young  man  set 
to  work  to  learn  engraving,  and  prepared  the  sheets 
himself ! 

But  before  he  could  give  effect  to  his  cherished  dream 
of  foreign  travel  he  had  to  spend  a  year  of  hope  deferred, 
of  weary  and  impatient  waiting*  His  practical  father 
meantime  looked  with  disapproval  on  the  apparently 
idle  life  his  gifted  son  was  leading*  Here  was  a  young 
man  of  twenty-two  who  had  completed  his  studies,  had 
given  evidence  of  ability,  and  yet  had  failed  to  find  useful 
occupation*  How  the  son  felt  may  be  gathered  from 
Swedenborg's  letter  to  Benzelius,  dated  March  io,  1710, 
He  writes  : 

I  have  little  desire  to  remain  here  much  longer ;  for  I  am 
wasting  nearly  all  my  time*  I  have,  however,  made  such 
progress  in  music  that  I  have  been  able  on  several  occasions 
to  act  as  substitute  for  our  organist ;  but  in  spite  of  all  my 
studies  this  place  affords  me  very  little  opportunity  to  give 
effect  to  them,  and  they  are  totally  unappreciated  by  those  who 
ought  to  encourage  me  in  them. 

There  was  a  welcome  break  in  this  monotonous  life 
when  he  paid  a  short  visit  to  the  celebrated  Swedish 
engineer  and  inventor,  Christopher  Polhammar  (who  on 
being  raised  to  the  nobility  took^the  name  of  Polhem), 


INTRODUCTION 


5 

a  congenial  spirit  who,  in  a  letter  to  Benzelius,  thus  speaks 
of  Swedenborg's  visit : 

With  regard  to  young  Swedberg,  I  must  confess  I  was 
extremely  well  pleased  that  he  came  here,  like  the  others,  and 
without  first  making  any  conditions  ;  and  as  we  were  pleased 
and  satisfied  with  each  other,  his  wishes  could  be  gratified 
without  difficulty,  especially  when  I  found  him  able  to  assist 
me  in  the  mechanical  undertaking  which  I  have  in  hand  and 
in  making  the  necessary  experiments  ;  in  this  matter  I  am  more 
indebted  to  him  than  he  is  to  me. 

By  the  autumn  of  1710  young  Swedberg  had  at  last 
managed  to  reach  London ;  but  he  was  kept  very  short  of 
funds,  and  he  complains  to  his  trusted  confidant  and 
brother-in-law  of  his  father's  treatment  of  him,  stating 
that  he  had  had  no  more  than  something  less  than  £50 
to  subsist  on  for  sixteen  months,  adding  pathetically 
and  quaintly  :  ^  It  is  hard  to  live  without  food  or  drink,' 

In  those  days  travelling  was  not  as  free  from  adventure 
as  it  is  to-day,  his  ship  was  nearly  wrecked,  and  was  sub¬ 
sequently  boarded  by  a  pirate,  for  whom  it  was  later 
mistaken  by  a  British  man-of-war  who  fired  at  it.  On 
his  arrival  in  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  Swedberg  was  so 
eager  to  get  to  London  that  he  evaded  the  strict  quaran¬ 
tine  regulations  and  had  a  narrow  escape  from  being 
hanged  for  it.  Once  in  London  he  seemed  to  be 
absolutely  happy ;  he  studied  Newton  daily,  purchased 
mathematical  books  and  instruments,  such  as  an 
astronomical  tube,  quadrants,  prisms,  microscopes,  etc,, 
and  even  two  camerae  obscurae ,  which  he  greatly  admired. 
He  hoped  to  be  able  to  have  enough  money  left  to  buy 
an  air-pump.  His  letters  breathe  with  the  almost  childish 
joy  of  a  scientific  enthusiast.  Poor  young  man  !  His 
stern  parent  gave  him  but  little  encouragement.  He 
was  much  impressed  with  the  town  itself,  *  the  magnificent 
St,  Paul's  Cathedral  was  finished  in  all  its  parts  a  few 
days  ago,'  he  writes.  He  was  particularly  affected  by 
the  sight  of  the  tomb  of  Casaubon  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
and  must  have  surprised  the  stolid  English  when  he  fell 
down  and  kissed  it,  for  he  was  *  inspired  with  a  love  for 
this  literary  hero,'  and  composed  some  Latin  verses  in 


6 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


his  honour.  At  the  time  of  his  visit  the  religious  world 
was  still  astir  over  the  Sacheverell  incident,  *  respecting 
whom  every  bookshop  displays  pamphlets/ 

In  spite  of  his  very  limited  means,  which  did  not 
permit  him  to  frequent  society  as  his  position  in  Sweden 
would  have  entitled  him  to  do,  he  nevertheless  was  able 
to  report :  *  I  visit  daily  the  best  mathematicians  here 
in  town,  I  have  been  with  Flamsteed,  who  is  considered 
the  best  astronomer  in  England  and  who  is  constantly 
taking  observations/  Already  he  had  worked  out  a 
method  of  finding  the  terrestrial  longitude  by  means  of 
the  moon,  which  he  proposed  to  submit  to  the  Royal 
Society,  He  was  frequently  requested  by  his  Swedish 
friends  to  execute  commissions  for  them,  to  purchase 
scientific  books  and  instruments,  and  to  advise  them 
generally  on  scientific  matters,  and  he  seems  to  have 
acquitted  himself  of  these  tasks  with  his  usual  painstaking 
conscientiousness.  He  also  found  time  to  read  the 
English  poets  and  recommended  to  his  correspondents 
the  study  of  Shakespeare,  Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  Spenser,  Milton,  Waller,  Cowley,  Dryden, 
and  many  others.  Two  years  of  close  study  and  versatile 
work  were  thus  spent  in  London  and  Oxford,  From 
England  he  proceeded  to  Holland  and  France,  In  the 
first  country  he  lived  chiefly  at  Utrecht,  where  the  Diet 
was  assembled  and  where  he  was  in  great  favour  with 
the  Swedish  Ambassador,  Palmquist,  In  Paris  he 
associated  with  such  men  as  De  La  Hire,  Varrignon,  and 
the  Abbe  Bignon,  of  the  Academy,  and  noted  the  rivalry 
that  existed  between  the  French  and  English  savants, 

Halley  of  Oxford  [he  wrote]  told  me  that  he  was  the  first 
to  examine  the  variation  of  the  pendulum  under  the  equator ; 
they  keep  silence  about  this  here  ;  the  astronomers  here  also 
maintain  that  Cassini's  paper  was  written  before  Halley  made 
his  expedition  to  the  Island  of  St,  Helena,  and  so  forth. 

After  nearly  a  year  in  Paris  the  young  student  went 
to  Hamburg  via  Lille,  and  from  thence  to  Pomerania, 
then  still  Swedish  territory.  We  next  hear  from  him  at 
Rostock,  whence  he  sends  his  brother-in-law  a  list  of  his 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


inventions*  Among  these  was  a  design  of  a  submarine, 
a  flying  machine,  a  device  for  raising  cargo-laden  ships 
by  means  of  sluices,  and  a  device  for  setting  a  mill  in 
motion  when  there  was  no  fall  of  water  available,  for, 
as  he  claims,  *  the  wheel  will  nevertheless  revolve  by 
means  of  the  fire  which  will  put  the  water  in  motion/ 
also  a  magazine  air-gun  to  discharge  sixty  or  seventy 
shots  in  succession  without  reloading* 

Most  of  the  next  nine  months  was  spent  at  the  little 
Pomeranian  University  town  of  Greifswalde,  where  he 
printed  a  collection  of  fables  in  Latin  verse  dealing  with 
contemporary  politics*  It  is  not  improbable  that  it 
was  here  that  he  first  attracted  the  notice  of  King 
Charles  XII,  who  was  at  that  time  at  Stralsund,  only 
fifteen  miles  distant*  When  that  place  was  about  to  be 
besieged,  Greifswalde  was  no  longer  a  fit  place  for  non- 
combatants  to  remain  in,  and,  in  company  with  Mme* 
Feif,  he  obtained  a  passage  home  in  a  yacht  after  an 
absence  of  more  than  four  years* 

On  his  return  he  did  not  find  himself  much  nearer 
to  suitable  employment*  He  had  seen  the  centres  of 
learning  of  Europe,  and  some  of  the  leaders  in  those 
centres,  and  he  had  not  neglected  his  opportunities* 
Full  of  ideas  and  schemes  for  the  amelioration  of  his 
country  he  yet  could  not  get  a  hearing,  all  his  ingenious 
proposals  fell  on  deaf  ears*  Thus  he  suggested  the 
formation  of  a  sort  of  Swedish  Royal  Society  to  be  called 
a  *  Society  for  Learning  and  Science/  and  recommended 
the  foundation  of  a  professorship  or  chair  of  mechanics 
at  the  University  of  Upsala*  But  he  was  always  met 
with  a  non  possumus  answer*  He  proposed  to  Ben^elius 
the  erection  of  an  observatory,  and  to  the  Mining  Depart¬ 
ment  a  reconstruction  of  their  old  wooden  models,  with 
the  same  want  of  success*  He  therefore  decided  to 
have  recourse,  like  so  many  young  men  of  his  temper,  to 
journalism,  and  to  start  a  scientific  and  technical  journal 
under  the  title  of  Dsedalus  Hyperboreus ♦ 

This  is  perhaps  the  proper  place  to  say  a  few  words 
about  that  striking  personality,  Swedenborg's  father, 
Dr*  Jesper  Swedberg,  Bishop  of  Skara,  for  beyond  his 


8 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


convenient  habit  of  contracting  wealthy  marriages  (he 
had  three  wives  all  well-to-do)  and  his  tendency  to  be 
careful  and  saving — a  characteristic  which,  although  not 
confined  to  the  clergy,  is  one  for  which  the  Swedish 
pastors  have  been  particularly  noted — he  was  a  man  of 
outstanding  merit,  sincerely  pious  and  God-fearing,  yet 
tolerant  and  broad-minded  withal,  though  no  latitudi- 
narian,  fearless  in  his  speech,  unselfish  and  disinterested* 
At  about  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  he  was  in  the  throes 
of  a  controversy  regarding  the  Swedish  language,  his 
views  on  which  had  been  fiercely  and  acrimoniously 
attacked  by  venomous  opponents*  But  he  had  the 
support  of  the  King,  who  appears  to  have  held  him  in 
the  same  respect  and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by 
Charles  XI*  Besides  these  polemical  troubles  the  good 
bishop  had  many  others;  he  was  engaged  in  a  revised 
translation  of  the  Bible,  he  had  produced  a  Swedish 
Dictionary  and  several  other  publications  of  a  similar 
nature,  and  these  had  eaten  up  a  large  part  of  his  not 
inconsiderable  fortune*  Moreover,  his  first  wife  had 
left  her  money  to  her  children,  and  not  to  him,  and  he 
had  had  other  financial  worries*  This  was  therefore 
hardly  a  suitable  time  to  approach  him  for  pecuniary 
assistance  in  the  launching  of  a  journal,  nor  does  he  seem 
to  have  approved  of  the  scheme* 

Nevertheless  the  journal  was  started,  and,  on  the 
advice  of  Ben^elius,  dedicated  to  the  King,  who,  in  spite 
of  his  many  preoccupations  and  the  war  he  was  engaged 
in,  professed  much  interest  in  the  publication*  It  was 
now  felt  that  something  must  be  done  for  this  young  man 
to  mark  the  royal  appreciation  of  his  ability,  and  three 
separate  posts  to  choose  from  were  offered  him  by  the 
King*  Of  these,  young  Emanuel  accepted  the  4  Extra¬ 
ordinary  Assessorship '  of  the  College  of  Mines,  the 
Government  Department  which  administered  the  mining 
industries  of  the  country*  At  that  time  the  government 
of  Sweden  was  divided  into  colleges  instead  of  ministries, 
and  so  efficient  were  these  that  the  Empress  Catherine  II 
of  Russia  obtained  a  report  on  this  system  and  introduced 
a  similar  one  in  her  own  country* 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


No  salary  was  attached  to  this  post,  but  the  work  was 
so  congenial  that  Swedenborg,  two  years  later,  refused  the 
Professorship  of  Astronomy  at  the  University  of  Upsala 
on  the  grounds  that  he  thought  he  could  be  more  useful 
to  his  country  where  he  was,  and  that  as  there  was  a 
dearth  of  technical  knowledge  on  the  Council  of  the 
College,  he  would  endeavour  to  supply  this  deficiency. 
Besides,  he  believed  he  would  displease  the  King  by 
giving  up  his  post,  and  he  also  hoped  to  vindicate  by  his 
work  the  King's  appointment.  This  he  certainly  did 
most  handsomely. 

Thus  the  young  man  who  but  recently  could  not  find 
employment  was  now  a  recognised  scientific  authority 
and  universally  esteemed.  He  was  speedily  to  render 
his  country  a  signal  service.  His  friend  and  patron,  the 
engineer  Polhem,  secured  his  special  services,  and  he 
was,  what,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  may  be  called, 
seconded.  He  assisted  this  friend  in  many  of  his  labours, 
the  most  notable  of  which  was  the  transfer,  in  1718,  by 
land,  over  a  distance  of  fourteen  English  miles,  of  several 
Swedish  war  galleys  by  means  of  which,  to  the  great 
delight  of  the  King,  a  small  flotilla  of  Danish  craft,  who 
retarded  the  capture  of  the  fortress  of  Frederickshall  by 
supplying  it  with  provisions,  was  attacked  and  destroyed. 
Other  works  were  the  construction  of  the  great  dock  at 
Carlscrona  and  the  preparation  of  plans  for  a  canal  from 
the  North  Sea  to  the  Baltic,  a  scheme  never  executed 
owing  to  the  death  of  the  King,  from  whose  private  purse 
the  expenses  were  to  be  met, 

Swedenborg's  relations  with  Polhem  had  now  become 
so  cordial  that  the  latter,  on  the  King's  recommendation, 
offered  him  his  eldest  daughter  in  marriage.  It  appears 
that  they  were  actually  engaged,  but  the  young  lady 
eventually  married  someone  else,  and  the  jilted  youth  was 
fain  to  console  himself  with  her  younger  sister,  to  whom 
he  was  formally  betrothed  and  for  whom  he  conceived  a 
deep  and  tender  affection.  She  proved,  however,  as 
fickle  as  her  sister — at  any  rate  the  Extraordinary  Assessor 
discovered  that  she  did  not  really  care  for  him,  and  con¬ 
sequently  chivalrously  absolved  her  from  her  promise. 


10 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


vowing  at  the  same  time  that  he  would  never  again  allow 
himself  to  fall  in  love — a  vow  he  faithfully  kept*  This 
episode  produced  a  coolness  between  Polhem  and 
Swedenborg,  who  seems  to  have  felt  considerable  resent¬ 
ment  against  his  prospective  father-in-law,  whose  repeated 
letters  he  returned  unopened*  It  is  perhaps  cause  for 
surprise  that  Swedenborg,  who  in  later  years  manifested 
a  gentleness  of  disposition  that  can  only  call  for  admira¬ 
tion,  should  have  shown  a  spirit  so  nearly  akin  to  vindic¬ 
tiveness.  It  appears,  however,  that  this  second  dis¬ 
appointment  had  thrown  him  into  a  state  of  profound 
dejection*  The  light  of  his  life  had  gone  out,  and  he 
viewed  the  world  with  despondent  melancholy*  Nothing 
seemed  to  go  right  with  him*  He  complained  that  his 
father  and  step-mother,  to  whom  he  was  much  attached, 
had  been  estranged  from  him,  and  he  was  discouraged 
in  his  scientific  projects,  for  which  he  could  obtain  no 
support*  Not  even  the  decimal  system,  the  adoption  of 
which  he  advocated,  found  acceptance.  He  had  thoughts 
of  retiring  to  one  of  the  little  villages  near  the  mines 
in  which  he  was  interested  through  his  mother,  and  of 
living  secluded  from  the  world* 

Some  six  months  before  he  had  been  ennobled,1 
together  with  his  brothers  and  sisters  :  he  had,  in  common 
with  them,  taken  the  name  of  Swedenborg,  and,  as  his 
mother's  eldest  surviving  son,  become  entitled  to  a  seat 
in  the  House  of  Nobles  of  the  Swedish  Parliament*  The 
King,  the  intrepid  Charles  XII,  who  had  continued  to 
show  him  his  favour,  had  died  in  November  1718* 
*  Every  day/  he  writes,  *  I  had  some  mathematical 
matters  for  His  Majesty,  who  deigned  to  be  pleased  with 
them  all.  ♦  ♦  ♦  I  hope  in  time  to  do  something  in  this 
quarter  for  the  advancement  of  science ;  but  I  do  not 
wish  to  bring  anything  forward  now,  except  what  is  of 
immediate  use*'  Now  that  his  royal  patron  was  no  more,  he 
felt  himself  entirely  deserted :  nevertheless  he  did  not  retire* 

1  He  had  just  published  a  work  ‘  Respecting  the  Great  Depth  of 
Water  and  the  Strong  Tides  in  the  Primeval  World  :  Proofs  from 
Sweden,’  which  he  dedicated  to  the  Queen,  congratulating  her  on 
ruling  over  a  land  constantly  being  enlarged  at  the  expense  of  the  sea. 
He  was  thus  the  first  to  call  attention  to  the  rise  of  the  Swedish  coast. 


INTRODUCTION 


ii 


In  the  summer  of  1721  he  obtained  leave  of  absence 
and  started  on  an  extensive  foreign  tour,  for  the  ostensible 
object  of  studying  the  mines  and  industries  of  other 
countries,  visiting  Holland  and  the  German  States*  In 
Saxony  and  the  Hartz  mountains  he  was  entertained  on 
a  princely  scale  by  Duke  Ludwig  Rudolph  of  Brunswick- 
Luneburg,  who  not  only  paid  all  his  expenses,  but  made 
him  valuable  presents* 

While  on  this  tour  he  published  several  scientific  and 
engineering  works,  as  well  as  a  treatise  on  algebra  (the 
first  in  the  Swedish  language)* 

On  his  return,  in  the  July  of  1722,  he  put  forward 
numerous  projects  for  the  material  prosperity  of  his 
country,  and  notably,  schemes  for  improvements  in  the 
manufacture  of  steel,  and  for  increasing  the  yield  of  copper, 
which  he  not  only  submitted  to  his  department,  but  also 
directly  to  the  King*  He  also  advised  the  abandonment 
of  the  4  foolish  distinction  '  between  4  precious  *  and 
*  base  '  metals*  On  these,  and  indeed  on  all  subjects, 
his  views  were  broad  and  liberal.  The  easy-going  con¬ 
servatives  of  his  native  land,  however,  were  difficult  to 
rouse,  and  the  jealous  officials  were  even  actively  hostile* 

On  July  15,  1724,  Swedenborg,  now  in  his  thirty- 
seventh  year,  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  Ordinary  Assessor 
to  the  College  of  Mines,  with  an  annual  salary  of  800 
silver  dalers,  and  it  was  not  till  1730  that  he  was  awarded 
the  full  salary  of  1200  dalers*  He  was  a  regular  attendant 
at  the  Council  Meetings,  the  minutes  of  which  bear 
testimony  to  the  active  part  he  took  in  the  work  of  the 
department  and  the  wide  scope  of  his  interests*  It  may 
be  safely  asserted  that  among  all  his  colleagues  he  was 
the  most  public-spirited,  the  most  able,  the  one  who, 
certainly  from  a  scientific  and  technical  point  of  view, 
was  the  most  competent* 

This  arduous  work,  which  entailed  frequent  visits  of 
inspection,  etc*,  was  not  sufficient  to  satisfy  his  intel¬ 
lectual  energy.  By  the  beginning  of  1733  had  com¬ 
pleted  several  substantial  scientific  and  philosophical 
works,  and  applied  for  leave  of  absence  again  for  several 
months  in  order  to  proceed  to  Dresden  and  Leipsic  to 


12 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


see  them  through  the  press,  for  Sweden  was  at  that  time 
so  backward  that  it  was  not  advisable  to  entrust  important 
scientific  books  to  the  local  printers,  besides  the  press 
censorship  was  a  perpetual  source  of  annoyance*  These 
works  of  Swedenborg's  were  entitled  the  4  Opera  Philo- 
sophica  et  Mineralia/  in  three  heavy  folio  volumes,  besides 
a  treatise  on  4  The  Infinite/  The  publication  of  these 
two  works,  the  entire  cost  of  which  was  generously  borne 
by  his  friend,  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  won  for  Swedenborg 
an  European  reputation,  and  placed  him  in  correspond¬ 
ence  with  the  leading  scientific  men  and  philosophers  of 
his  day,  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  St,  Petersburg 
electing  him  a  corresponding  member,  and  he  was  also 
one  of  the  first  elected  members  of  the  Royal  Academy 
of  Sciences,  which  had  at  last  been  founded  in  his  own 
country. 

In  the  fairly  detailed  account  of  this  visit  to  the  Con¬ 
tinent,  which  Swedenborg  has  left,  he  stands  revealed  as 
a  shrewd  and  careful  observer  of  men  and  things,  of 
whom  it  was  justly  said  that  4  nothing  ever  escaped  him 
that  merited  the  attention  of  a  traveller/  4  It  would  be 
too  prolix/  he  says,  4  to  mention  all  the  learned  men  I 
visited,  and  with  whom  I  became  acquainted  during  these 
journeys,  since  I  never  missed  an  opportunity  of  doing 
so,  nor  of  seeing  and  examining  libraries,  collections,  and 
other  objects  of  interest/  He  also  visited  the  principal 
mines  and  factories. 

Swedenborg  had  now  reached  middle-age.  He  was 
highly  respected  at  home  and  abroad,  and  his  works  had 
marked  him  out  as  one  of  the  leading  thinkers  of  his  day. 
He  was  no  longer  regarded  as  merely  a  painstaking 
scientific  worker  and  a  distinguished  government  official; 
he  had  taken  his  place  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  thought 
of  his  day. 

In  the  4  Opera  Philosophica  et  Mineralia/  the  first  part 
of  which  was  entitled  4  Principia  Rerum  Naturalium/  he 
stood  forth  as  a  speculative  philosopher  of  the  first  rank. 
His  investigations  ranged  from  the  composition  of  matter 
to  the  seat  of  the  soul.  In  his  theory  of  the  origin  of 
the  world  he  propounded  the  nebular  hypothesis,  and 


INTRODUCTION 


13 


thus  anticipated  by  many  years  the  speculations  of  Kant, 
Laplace,  and  HerscheL  He  had  made  all  science  his 
domain,  and  his  next  works,  4 The  Economy  of  the 
Animal  Kingdom  '  and  1  The  Animal  Kingdom/  were  so 
original  that  Emerson  has  described  him,  with  some 
justice,  as  the  Darwin  of  the  eighteenth  century,  whilst 
his  philosophical  essay  on  the  creation  of  man  which 
appeared  under  the  title  of  1  The  Worship  and  Love  of 
God/  with  its  beautiful  yet  classically  simple  style  and 
charming  imagery,  proclaimed  him  a  poet  of  philosophy 
and  science* 

Small  wonder  that  in  his  own  country  he  held  an 
exceptional  position*  In  the  Swedish  House  of  Nobles 
he  had  been  a  member  since  1719*  He  was  a  bad 
speaker,  having  a  slight  impediment  in  his  speech  which 
interfered  with  his  fluency,  though  it  was  scarcely  notice¬ 
able  by  his  hearers,  and  he  therefore  prepared  before¬ 
hand  the  speeches  he  made  at  the  Swedish  Diet*  The 
first  of  these,  the  original  of  which  is  preserved  in  the 
State  archives  of  Stockholm,  is  dated  February  5,  1723, 
and  was  read  in  Committee  on  February  7,  1723*  It  is 
named  1  A  Memorial  on  the  State  of  the  Finances  of 
Sweden/  and  sets  forth  that  4  the  balance  of  trade  is  the 
genuine  vein  and  source  of  a  country's  welfare':  it 
ascribes  the  decline  of  his  country's  prosperity  to  the 
loss  of  its  mercantile  marine,  and  asserts  that  4  the  most 
valuable  property  and  the  surest  source  of  income  which 
Sweden  has  had  for  a  long  time  are  its  iron  and  copper 
works*'  Then  follows  what  for  the  time  was  a  singularly 
luminous  statement : 

Iron  brings  annually  from  two  to  three  millions  of  rix- 
dalers  into  the  country,  or  in  other  words ,  it  pays  for  as  large  a 
quantity  of  goods  as  corresponds  to  that  amount ;  copper  yields 
annually  one  million ;  whence  it  follows  that  the  country's 
welfare  and  the  balance  of  trade  have  been  based  for  a  long 
time  upon  our  mining  interest,  the  proper  maintenance  of 
which  ought  to  receive  our  most  careful  attention,  since  foreign 
merchants  will  use  every  means  in  their  power  to  gain  the 
profit  which  our  mining  districts  ought  to  yield  to  our  own 
country* 


14 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


But  in  1734  he  submitted  a  Memorial  to  the  Secret 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Nobles  on  the  impolicy  of 
declaring  war  against  Russia,  which  reveals  a  truly 
astounding  breadth  of  vision,  and  a  statesmanship  of  a 
much  loftier  kind  than  might  have  been  expected  from 
an  ordinary  official  of  a  government  department*  The 
times  were  sufficiently  critical ;  France  was  earnestly 
endeavouring  to  get  Sweden  to  join  her  in  her  military 
operations  in  Poland  against  Russia  and  Germany*  After 
submitting  the  necessity  of  taking  long  views  when 
declaring  war,  and  reviewing  the  political  situation 
generally,  he  made  the  very  remarkable  and  far-seeing 
statement  that,  while  it  would  be  of  great  advantage  to 
reconquer  Livonia,  it  was  still  more  to  the  advantage  of 
the  country  not  to  possess  it,  seeing  that  that  province 
was  politically  a  source  of  weakness,  being  liable  to  attack 
from  Poland  and  Russia ;  whilst  Sweden,  as  then  con¬ 
stituted,  was  in  no  danger  of  an  offensive  attack,  *  as  we 
have  already  given  away  what  might  embroil  us  with  our 
neighbours*  A  war,  or  the  equipment  of  an  army  and  a 
navy,  would  draw  more  money  out  of  Sweden's  treasury 
than  Livonia  brought  into  it  for  many  years*' 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  this  Memorial 
had  a  great  influence  at  the  meeting  of  the  Secret  Com¬ 
mittee  of  the  Diet,  of  which  Swedenborg  was  a  member, 
and  that  it  was  largely  due  to  his  views  that  his  country 
was  saved  for  six  more  years  from  the  horrors  of  war  and 
the  humiliation  of  defeat* 

His  attitude  with  regard  to  the  liquor  traffic  was 
equally  sound  and  statesmanlike* 

But  perhaps  his  most  remarkable  political  achieve¬ 
ment  was  his  defeat  of  Nordencrantz  in  the  Diet  of  1760, 
and  his  Memorial  in  favour  of  a  return  to  a  pure  metallic 
currency*  In  this  Memorial  he  shows  himself  to  have 
been  as  sound  a  political  economist  as  he  was  a  man  of 
science,  nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  Adam  Smith's 
*  Wealth  of  Nations  '  was  not  published  until  1776,  four 
years  after  Swedenborg's  death* 

By  1761,  when  he  was  seventy-three,  he  had  become 
quite  a  patriarchal  figure,  and  in  addressing  the  Swedish 


INTRODUCTION 


i5 


Diet  in  the  January  of  that  year  he  wished  them  a  blessed 
progress  in  their  duties  and  a  prosperous  and  unanimous 
conclusion  of  their  labours* 

This  brief  review  of  his  political  activities  has  neces¬ 
sarily  left  his  other  work  out  of  sight*  A  return  must 
now  be  made  to  the  earlier  period*  Between  1734  and 
1745  he  spent  much  time  in  travels,  visiting  Italy  among 
other  countries* 

In  a  letter  to  the  Rev*  Thomas  Hartley,  written 
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  Swedenborg  gives  the  year 
1743  as  the  date  of  the  opening  of  his  spiritual  sight*  It 
was  probably  in  that  year  that  he  received  the  earliest 
intimation  of  his  call ;  but  it  was  not  till  April  1745,  as 
he  tells  us  in  several  places,  that  he  was  fully  admitted 
to  intercourse  with  angels  and  spirits*  In  conversation 
with  Carl  Robsahm,  many  years  later,  he  stated  : 

I,  for  my  own  part,  had  never  expected  to  come  into  that 
spiritual  state,  in  which  I  am  now ;  but  the  Lord  selected  me 
for  this  work,  and  for  revealing  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  which  he  had  promised  in  the  Prophets 
and  in  the  Book  of  Revelations*  My  purpose  previously 
had  been  to  explore  nature,  chemistry,  and  the  sciences  of 
mining  and  anatomy* 

In  a  letter  to  F*  C*  Oetinger  he  answers  the  question, 
4  Why  from  being  a  philosopher  have  I  been  chosen  i  * 
and  says  : 

The  cause  of  this  was  that  the  spiritual  things  which  are 
being  revealed  at  the  present  day  might  be  taught  and  under¬ 
stood  rationally ;  for  spiritual  truths  have  a  correspondence 
with  natural  truths,  because  in  these  they  terminate,  and  on 
these  they  rest*  *  *  *  For  this  reason  I  was  introduced  first 
into  the  natural  sciences  and  thus  prepared  ;  and  indeed  from 
the  year  1710  to  1744,  when  heaven  was  opened  to  me*  Every 
one  also  is  led  by  means  of  natural  to  spiritual  things  ;  for  man 
is  born  natural ;  by  education  he  is  made  moral,  and  after¬ 
wards  by  regeneration  from  the  Lord  he  becomes  spiritual*  *  *  * 
Falsities  which  have  been  confirmed  close  the  Church,  where¬ 
fore  truths  rationally  understood  have  to  open  it*  How  else 
can  spiritual  things,  which  transcend  the  understanding,  be 
understood,  acknowledged,  and  received  i 


i6 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


In  another  place  he  states  that  the  Lord  had  prepared 
him  from  his  earliest  youth  for  the  mission  which  he 
was  called  on  to  fulfil* 

A  full  and  detailed  account  of  Swedenborg's  gradual 
illumination  will  be  found  in  Dr*  Tafel's  *  Documents 
concerning  Swedenborg/  three  volumes,  especially  in 
Documents  No*  208-209,  vol*  ii*  pp*  134-219*  For  the 
purposes  of  this  notice  it  will  suffice  to  say  that  Sweden¬ 
borg  at  first  had  serious  doubts  as  to  his  fitness  for  the 
task,  and  although  he  had  lived  an  absolutely  pure  and 
upright  life  he  found,  he  writes,  that  he  was  more 
unworthy  than  others  and  the  greatest  sinner*  He 
regarded  his  intellectual  pride  as  his  besetting  sin,  and 
confessed  that  he  was  inclined  to  resist  God's  will  and 
choose  his  own  course*  Especially  was  he  reluctant  to 
give  up  his  studies  in  which  he  took  so  much  delight, 
but  gradually  he  felt  a  change  coming  over  him*  He 
went  through  severe  temptations  also,  but  in  1747  he 
resigned  his  Assessorship  at  the  College  of  Mines,  and 
from  henceforth  regarded  himself  as  the  servant  of  our 
Lord,  doing  nothing  of  his  own  will* 

The  College  of  Mines  showed  their  appreciation  of 
his  services  by  retiring  him  on  half-salary,  so  that  what 
with  his  private  means  and  his  pension  he  was  in  com¬ 
fortable,  though  not  in  affluent,  circumstances,  and  his 
mind  was  thus  set  free*  He  was  now  able  to  devote 
himself  whole-heartedly  to  his  mission*  He  did  not 
remain  long  in  Sweden,  but  was  in  Holland  in  November 
1747,  remaining  there  until  the  October  of  1748*  On 
November  23,  1748,  he  was  in  London,  and  had  taken 
there  lodgings  at  six  shillings  a  week*  It  was  here  that 
he  published  the  first  volume  of  his  *  Arcana  Ccelestia,' 
which  was  issued  anonymously  by  John  Lewis,  of  Pater¬ 
noster  Row,  but  only  four  copies  were  sold  in  two  months, 
Swedenborg  eschewing  all  adventitious  aids  to  circulation* 
This  was  followed  by  a  second  volume  issued  in  parts,  in 
English  and  Latin,  from  the  hands  of  the  same  publishers 
in  1750*  The  work  was  handsomely  produced,  but  sold 
at  an  extremely  low  price*  There  was,  however,  small 
encouragement  in  the  way  of  sales,  yet  the  publication 


INTRODUCTION 


17 

went  on  year  by  year  until  its  completion  in  1756*  During 
this  period  Swedenborg  was  in  residence  in  Stockholm, 
sending  his  manuscripts  to  London*  In  Stockholm  he 
lived  the  ordinary  life  of  a  retired  and  studious  old 
bachelor,  mixing  occasionally  in  society,  and  betraying 
neither  by  word  nor  sign  that  he  had  entered  on  a  new 
field  of  work*  In  1758  he  again  went  to  London  and 
there  published  four  small  works,  *  The  Earths  in  the 
Universe/  4  The  Last  Judgment/  *  The  New  Jerusalem 
and  its  Heavenly  Doctrine/  *  On  the  White  Horse  in  the 
Apocalypse/  and  a  larger  and  more  widely  known  book, 
*  Heaven  and  Hell/ 

Between  1757  and  1759  he  also  wrote  4  The  Apocalypse 
Explained/  which,  although  never  completed,  filled  six 
volumes*  It  was  superseded  in  1766  by  a  shorter  work 
entitled  4  The  Apocalypse  Revealed/  In  the  spring  of 
1762  Swedenborg,  now  seventy-four,  proceeded  to 
Amsterdam,  to  which  town  he  transferred  his  publishing, 
the  reason  probably  being,  as  suggested  by  Dr*  Tafel, 
that  his  teachings  had  been  rejected  by  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England,  to  whom  his  books  were  principally 
addressed*  He  certainly  published  no  more  books  in 
London  beyond  a  pamphlet  on  4  The  Intercourse  between 
the  Body  and  the  Soul/  which  appeared  in  1769*  All  his 
other  later  religious  works  were  now  published  from 
Amsterdam*  The  Transactions  of  the  Swedish  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences  for  the  quarter  April,  May,  and 
June  1763,  however,  contain  a  paper  by  him  on  the 
inlaying  of  marble,  but  his  *  New  Method  of  Finding  the 
Longitude  of  Places  on  Sea  and  Land  '  was  republished 
at  Amsterdam  in  1766* 

The  frequent  voyages  which  Swedenborg  undertook 
at  his  advanced  age  were  conducted  alone,  and  were  free 
from  misadventure  of  any  kind — indeed,  the  superstitious 
sea-captains  of  vessels  plying  between  Sweden  and 
Amsterdam  and  London  liked  to  have  him  on  board, 
because,  they  maintained,  he  brought  them  fine  weather 
and  favouring  winds* 

He  last  crossed  over  to  London  in  July  1771, 
and  there  remained  to  the  close  of  his  earthly  life 


i8  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

on  March  29,  1772,  the  day  which  he  had  himself 
foretold. 

During  his  last  years  it  began  to  get  known  that  he 
was  the  author  of  the  remarkable  books  above  mentioned, 
and  that  he  professed  to  have  open  communication  with 
angels  and  spirits,  and  he  became  the  object  of  curiosity. 
Jung-Stilling  states  that  he  made  no  secret  of  it,  but 
would  frequently  at  dinner-parties  or  similar  conven¬ 
tional  gatherings,  in  the  midst  of  some  interesting  con¬ 
versation,  say  :  *  On  this  point  I  conversed  not  long  ago  ' 
— with  Luther,  St.  Paul,  or  some  other  departed  authority, 
as  the  case  might  be.  Jung-Stilling  adds  that  although 
the  veracity  of  these  statements  had  been  impugned,  and 
4  the  good  gentleman  *  had  even  been  charged  with 
imposture,  yet  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  he  was  a 
pious  Christian  and  incapable  of  deceit. 

Swedenborg's  works  need  no  extraneous  support, 
they  stand  or  fall  by  the  internal  evidence  of  their  sound¬ 
ness  ;  but  it  may  nevertheless  be  interesting  here  to  adduce 
the  three  principal  but  authenticated  external  proofs  of 
his  seership  which  are  on  record,  although  many  similar 
incidents  are  related  of  him. 

The  first  is  the  story  of  Queen  Louisa  Ulrica  of 
Sweden,  sister  of  the  Crown  Prince  Augustus  William 
of  Prussia,  who  at  a  court  function  asked  Swedenborg, 
among  other  things,  whether  he  had  ever  met  her  brother, 
who  was  dead,  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  on  receiving  a 
negative  reply  requested  him  to  ask  after  the  prince  and 
to  give  him  her  greeting.  This  he  promised  to  do.  It 
is  suggested  that  the  Queen  gave  Swedenborg  this  com¬ 
mission  in  jest  rather  than  in  earnest,  but  Swedenborg 
took  it  seriously,  and  on  the  occasion  of  the  next  court 
approached  her  as  she  was  receiving  in  what  was  called 
the  white  room,  surrounded  by  her  ladies-in-waiting. 
The  Queen  had  forgotten  the  incident,  and  was  surprised 
when  Swedenborg  informed  her  that  he  was  the  bearer 
of  greetings  from  her  brother,  and  that  the  prince  desired 
to  apologise  to  her  for  not  answering  her  last  letter,  and 
had  entrusted  his  reply  to  Swedenborg.  Count  Hopken, 
who  tells  the  story,  relates  that  the  Queen  was  greatly 


INTRODUCTION 


19 

overcome,  and  said :  4  No  one  but  God  knows  this 
secret/ 

According  to  another  account  the  Queen  nearly 
fainted,  and  Swedenborg  was  bitterly  reproached  by 
Count  von  Schwerin  for  distressing  her,  and  asked  to 
tell  him  the  secret.  But  whatever  truth  there  may  be 
in  the  story,  the  secret  was  never  revealed.  Jung-Stilling, 
at  least,  fully  believed  in  it,  and  says  :  *  A  distinguished 
Swede,  who  was  by  no  means  an  admirer  of  Sweden¬ 
borg's,  has  assured  me  that  it  is  the  pure  truth  and  cannot 
be  called  in  question.'  It  appears  that  he  furnished  him 
with  additional  proofs,  which,  however,  he  thought  it 
would  be  indiscreet  to  publish. 

The  next  story  is  of  a  very  different  order.  Sweden¬ 
borg,  arriving  at  Gotha  from  England  in  1759,  was  invited 
to  dinner  by  a  Mr.  William  Castel  to  meet  fifteen  other 
guests. 


At  about  six  o'clock  [writes  Emanuel  Kant]  Swedenborg 
went  out  and  returned  to  the  company  quite  pale  and  alarmed. 
He  said  that  a  dangerous  fire  had  just  broken  out  in  Stockholm 
(300  miles  off)  and  that  it  was  spreading  very  fast.  He  was 
restless  and  went  out  often.  He  said  that  the  house  of  one  of 
his  friends,  whom  he  named,  was  already  in  ashes,  and  that  his 
own  was  in  danger.  At  eight  o'clock,  after  he  had  been  out 
again,  he  joyfully  exclaimed  *  Thank  God  !  the  fire  is  extin¬ 
guished,  the  third  door  from  my  house  ! '  Several  days  later 
a  messenger  arrived  in  Gothenburg  with  official  news  of  the 
fire  which  absolutely  bore  out  all  Swedenborg's  statements. 

Then  there  is  the  Marteville  incident.  Mme.  Marte- 
ville,  widow  of  the  Dutch  Ambassador  at  Stockholm, 
received  a  demand  from  a  silversmith  for  payment  for  a 
service  of  plate.  Convinced  that  her  husband  had  paid, 
but  unable  to  find  the  receipt,  she  asked  Swedenborg 
whether  he  could  ascertain  from  her  departed  husband 
how  the  matter  stood.  Three  days  later  Swedenborg 
called  on  the  lady  and  told  her,  in  a  matter-of-fact  way, 
how  he  had  seen  her  husband,  that  the  plate  had  been 
paid  for,  and  that  the  receipt  would  be  found  in  a  secret 
drawer  of  a  certain  escritoire.  The  lady,  who  did  not 


20 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


know  of  this  secret  drawer,  now  had  no  difficulty  in 
finding  the  missing  document* 

These  stories  were  carefully  investigated  by  Kant, 
who  was  not,  at  one  time,  at  all  well  disposed  towards 
Swedenborg,  and  he  satisfied  himself  of  their  authenticity. 
There  are  several  others,  but,  as  has  been  already  observed, 
such  stories  are  of  small  value.  Swedenborg's  claims  for 
credence  are  based  on  a  surer  foundation. 

What  manner  of  man  was  this  many-sided  person — 
theologian,  philosopher,  scientist,  statesman,  and  engineer  i 
As  a  politician  and  engineer  it  has  been  shown  that  he 
was  a  reformer,  that  he  stood  for  progress  and  enlighten¬ 
ment,  but  he  was  never  a  revolutionary.  In  the  House 
of  Nobles  he  was  no  partisan  ;  at  that  time  in  Sweden 
there  were  two  parties,  the  1  hats  '  and  the  4  caps,'  but 
he  refused  to  be  identified  with  either.  Opposed  alike  to 
despotism  and  anarchy,  he  was  a  consistent  and  ardent 
advocate  of  freedom  and  order,  the  one  being  impossible 
without  the  other.  He  had  witnessed  the  misfortunes 
into  which  an  ambitious,  vainglorious,  unlimited  monarch 
like  Charles  XII  could  plunge  his  country.  He  had  seen 
the  miseries  which  an  eighteen  years'  war  had  entailed. 
He  was  therefore  in  favour  of  constitutional  government. 
His  writings  show  that  he  was  no  respecter  of  persons, 
and  that  he  held  bureaucracy  and  officialism  in  particular 
abhorrence.  Yet  he  was  no  demagogue,  but  a  calm  and 
dignified  thinker,  an  aristocrat  by  training  and  position, 
in  whose  eyes,  however,  rank,  dignities,  place,  and  the 
pomp  and  self-importance  of  the  Jack-in-office  were  alike 
contemptible  and  ridiculous.  Thus  he  was  a  true  demo¬ 
crat  who  knew  that  in  the  eyes  of  God  all  men  were  equal, 
and  that,  as  a  Scottish  poet  was  to  sing  some  years  later. 

The  rank  is  but  the  guinea's  stamp, 

The  man's  the  gowd  for  a'  that. 

But  if  he  was  contemptuous  of  the  worldly  ambitions  of 
self-seekers,  he  was  neither  truculent  nor  intolerant.  He 
was  indeed  so  considerate  of  others,  and  so  careful  not 
to  give  offence,  that  he  was  not  even  unconventional, 
either  in  his  dress  or  manner,  or  in  his  mode  of  life. 


INTRODUCTION 


21 


In  appearance  tall,  with  a  pleasing  face  and  regular 
features,  he  possessed  singularly  fine  blue  eyes,  which 
retained  their  beauty  even  in  his  old  age*  John  Christian 
Cuno,  a  merchant  and  banker  in  Amsterdam,  who  was  a 
friend  of  his,  said  of  him  :  *  When  he  gazed  upon  me 
with  his  smiling  blue  eyes,  which  he  always  did  in  con¬ 
versing  with  me,  it  was  as  if  truth  itself  was  speaking 
from  them/  These  eyes  had  a  sort  of  magnetic  power, 
and  the  same  friend  observed  that  he  often  noticed  with 
surprise  how  scoffers,  who  had  come  *  to  make  fun  of 
the  old  gentleman/  were  fain  to  listen  in  silent  wonder 
at  *  the  singular  things  which  he,  like  an  open-hearted 
child,  told  about  the  spiritual  world,  without  reserve  and 
with  full  confidence*  It  almost  seemed  as  if  his  eyes 
possessed  the  faculty  of  imposing  silence  on  everyone/ 

His  dress  was  simple,  but  neat*  According  to  the 
prevailing  custom  he  wore  a  wig,  but  this  was  not  of 
immoderate  length*  One  Swedish  contemporary  de¬ 
scribes  him  as  usually  wearing  a  long,  light  blue  or 
greyish  velvet  coat,  with  a  black  taffeta  waistcoat,  and 
shoes  with  large  gold  buckles*  His  London  landlord,  a 
barber  appropriately  named  Shearsmith,  of  Bath  Street, 
Coldbath  Fields,  in  whose  unpretentious  house  he  died, 
stated  that 

the  dress  he  generally  wore  when  he  went  out  to  visit  was  a 
suit  of  black  velvet,  made  after  an  old  fashion  ;  a  pair  of  long 
ruffles ;  a  curious  hiked  sword ;  and  a  gold-headed  cane* 
He  ate  little  or  no  animal  food,  only  a  few  eels  sometimes* 
His  chief  sustenance  was  cakes,  tea  and  coffee,  made  generally 
very  sweet.  His  drink  was  water*1  He  took  a  great  deal  of 
snuff. 

Everybody  who  has  left  any  record  of  him  speaks  of 
his  easy,  polished,  and  agreeable  manners  in  society*  Thus 
Cuno  observes  :  *  Mr.  Swedenborg  moves  in  the  world' 
with  great  tact,  and  knows  how  to  address  the  high  and 
the  low/  This  is  not  surprising  when  we  consider  the 
circles  he  moved  in*  In  a  letter  to  the  Rev*  Thomas 

1  In  company  he  would  drink  two  or  three  glasses  of  wine,  but 
never  more. 


22 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


Hartley,  rector  of  Winwick,  Northamptonshire,  who 
asked  him  for  particulars  of  his  life,  career,  friends  and 
relations,  Swedenborg,  after  giving  a  brief  and  very 
modest  outline  of  his  curriculum  vitae,  states  : 

With  respect  to  my  family  connection,  I  had  four  sisters. 
One  of  them  was  married  to  Ericus  Benzelius,  who  subse¬ 
quently  became  Archbishop  of  Upsala,  and  through  him  I 
became  related  to  the  two  succeeding  archbishops,  who  .  ♦  ♦ 
were  younger  brothers  of  his.  My  second  sister  was  married 
to  Lars  Benzelstierna,  who  became  a  provincial  governor ; 
but  these  two  are  dead.  Two  bishops  however  who  are 
related  to  me  are  living,  one  of  them,  who  is  Flennius,  and  who 
is  Bishop  of  East  Gothland,  officiates  now  as  President  in  the 
House  of  the  Clergy  in  the  Diet  at  Stockholm,  in  the  place  of 
the  Archbishop  who  is  an  invalid  ;  he  married  my  sister's 
daughter ;  the  other  named  Benzelstierna,  is  Bishop  of 
Westmanland  and  Dalecorlia  ;  he  is  the  son  of  my  second 
sister.  Not  to  mention  others  of  my  relations  who  occupy 
stations  of  honour.  Moreover  all  the  bishops  of  my  native 
country,  who  are  ten  in  number,  and  also  the  sixteen  senators, 
and  the  rest  of  those  high  in  office,  entertain  feelings  of  affec¬ 
tion  for  me,  and  I  live  with  them  on  terms  of  familiarity,  as 
a  friend  among  friends  ;  the  reason  of  which  is,  that  they  know 
I  am  in  company  with  angels.  Even  the  King  and  the  Queen, 
and  the  three  princes,  their  sons,  show  me  great  favour.  .  ♦  ♦ 
But  all  that  I  have  related  I  consider  of  comparatively  little 
importance  ;  for  it  is  far  exceeded  by  the  circumstance  that 
I  have  been  called  to  a  holy  office  by  the  Lord  Himself.  ♦  ♦  ♦ 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Hartley,  a  beneficed  clergyman  of 
the  Church  of  England,  to  which  the  above  is  a  reply, 
deserves  quotation  as  throwing  light  on  Swedenborg  the 
man.  Mr.  Hartley  writes  : 

I  consider  myself  most  highly  favoured  and  I  rejoice  from 
my  inmost  heart  in  having  had  the  honour,  which  you  lately 
granted  me,  of  conversing  with  you  ;  and  also  in  your  having 
been  so  kind  and  friendly  towards  me  who  am  quite  unworthy 
of  such  a  favour.  But  your  charity  towards  the  neighbour, 
the  heavenly  benignity  shining  from  your  countenance,  and 
your  childlike  simplicity,  devoid  of  all  vain  show  and  egotism 
are  so  great,  and  the  treasure  of  wisdom  possessed  by  you  is 
so  sweetly  tempered  with  gentleness,  that  it  did  not  inspire 


INTRODUCTION 


23 


in  me  a  feeling  of  awe,  but  one  of  love,  which  refreshed  me  in 
my  inmost  heart.  Believe  me,  O  best  of  men,  that  by  my 
intercourse  with  you  I  consider  myself  crowned  with  more 
than  royal  favours.  ...  In  speaking  with  you  every  suspicion 
of  flattery  must  be  hushed.  For  what  ground  for  flattery  can 
there  be,  when  I  attribute  everything  in  you,  however  great 
and  extraordinary  it  may  be,  to  the  Lord,  and  not  to  yourself, 
and  when  I  look  upon  you  only  as  an  instrument  of  His  mercy 
and  kindness  ! 

Swedenborg  must  indeed  have  been  a  remarkable 
figure  when  a  visit  to  him  in  his  humble  lodgings  could 
evoke  such  a  letter,  of  the  sincerity  of  which  there  can 
be  no  doubt,  for  Mr.  Hartley  had  nothing  to  gain  by 
writing  it,  the  object  of  the  letter  being  to  offer  Sweden¬ 
borg  an  asylum  in  England  in  the  event  of  persecution 
at  home. 

Of  Swedenborg's  uncompromising  honesty  the  follow¬ 
ing  story  is  a  good  illustration.  He  originally  intended 
to  publish  his  *  True  Christian  Religion  9  in  Paris,  for 
which  purpose  the  consent  of  the  Press  Censor  had  to 
be  obtained.  This  consent  was  given,  subject,  however, 
to  the  proviso  that  the  title-page  should  bear  an  imprint 
to  the  effect  that  the  book  had  been  printed  elsewhere, 
in  London  or  Amsterdam.  But  Swedenborg  would  not 
permit  the  *  True  Christian  Religion  *  to  appear  with  a 
lie  on  its  title-page,  and  so  he  took  his  MS.  to  Amsterdam 
and  published  it  there. 

Though  transparently  honest,  he  was  by  no  means 
austere,  and  had  a  keen  sense  of  humour.  This  appears 
from  an  incident  relating  to  a  young  lady  of  about 
sixteen  who  was  very  anxious  that  *  Uncle  '  Swedenborg 
should  show  her  an  angel.  *  At  last  he  consented,  and 
leading  her  to  a  summer-house  in  his  garden  he  placed 
her  before  a  curtain  that  had  been  lowered,  and  then 
said  44  Now  you  shall  see  an  angel tf ;  and  as  he  spoke 
he  drew  up  the  curtain,  when  the  maiden  beheld  herself 
reflected  in  a  mirror/ 

Swedenborg  was  not  averse  to  the  society  of  ladies, 
towards  whom  he  always  behaved  with  the  distinguished 
courtesy  of  his  time.  He  was  devoted  to  children,  fond 


24 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


of  music,  and  seems  to  have  been  literally  worshipped  by 
his  servants — a  man  and  wife,  who  appear  to  have  been 
very  charming  and  very  original,  simple  folk* 

No  better  or  more  fitting  conclusion  could  be 
given  to  this  necessarily  somewhat  meagre  sketch  than 
by  reprinting  Swedenborg's  *  Rules  of  Life,'  from  an 
unpublished  MS* : 

i*  Often  to  read  and  meditate  on  the  Word  of  God* 

2.  To  submit  everything  to  the  will  of  Divine  Providence* 

3.  To  observe  in  everything  a  propriety  of  behaviour  and 

to  keep  the  conscience  clear* 

4*  To  discharge  with  fidelity  the  functions  of  my  employ¬ 
ments,  and  to  make  myself  in  all  things  useful  to 
society* 


CHAPTER  I 
Life  and  Creation 

We  are  living  in  an  age  of  materialism,  in  an  age  in  which 
people  do  not  believe  in  anything  that  cannot  be  weighed 
or  measured.  The  scientific  man  strives  to  set  up  a 
philosophy  of  the  universe  in  which  God  has  no  place. 
Nature  suffices  for  itself  and  needs  no  spiritual  explana¬ 
tion,  This  endeavour  has  nevertheless  failed  of  success, 
and  principally  for  two  reasons.  No  system  of  material¬ 
istic  philosophy  has  yet  satisfactorily  explained  that 
extraordinary  phenomenon  called  life  with  the  associated 
mysterious  sensation  of  self-consciousness,  and  nobody 
has  succeeded  in  discovering  a  secular  sanction  for 
human  conduct  based  on  something  stronger  than  the 
good  intentions  of  the  individual  and  the  good  of  the 
community. 

Philosophers  maintain  that  ethics  are  entirely  distinct 
from  religion  and  need  no  such  sanction,  but  the  practical 
man  knows  from  experience  that  the  selfishness  of  man¬ 
kind  cannot  be  restrained  by  philanthropic  theories. 

In  a  large  measure,  the  negation  of  religion  is  the 
result  of  the  illogical  and  childish  beliefs  of  our  ancestors, 
which  have  been  handed  down  to  us  from  generation  to 
generation. 

Fallible  human  nature  has  a  tendency  to  error,  and 
truths  handed  down  through  the  centuries  are  apt  to 
become  so  caked  in  error  or  misconception,  that  the 
original  kernel  of  truth  is  completely  concealed  by  the 
gradually  growing  husk  of  falsity.  Whilst  primitive 
religion  was  adapted  to  the  primitive  minds  of  a  childlike 


26 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


and  unsophisticated  race  of  beings,  the  errors  which 
have  accumulated  round  primitive  religion  have  fre¬ 
quently  resulted  in  making  such  religion  repugnant  to 
the  logical  mind.  Hence  the  necessity  of  new  dispensa¬ 
tions  adapted  to  the  time.  This  explains  the  philo¬ 
sophical  necessity  of  the  teachings  of  Swedenborg.  This 
man  of  science  had  been  prepared  by  a  life  of  practical 
work  and  by  mathematical  training  for  his  great  mission. 
It  was  necessary  to  reconcile  modern  scientific  discoveries 
with  the  truths  of  religion,  and  to  unravel  the  latter  from 
the  errors  and  falsities  which  they  had  accumulated. 
Swedenborg's  task  was  not  to  destroy,  but  to  build  up  ; 
not  to  criticise,  but  to  explain  ;  not  to  cause  strife  or 
found  sects,  but  to  reconcile  and  harmonise. 

We  propose  in  the  following  pages  to  give  a  brief 
and  popular  exposition  of  the  remarkable  teachings  of 
this  extraordinary  philosopher. 

Let  us  begin  at  the  beginning.  How  does  Swedenborg 
account  for  the  existence  of  the  world,  for  this  mysterious 
life  which  is  such  a  puzzle  to  the  materialist  i 

He  puts  it  very  clearly,  very  simply,  and  very  con¬ 
vincingly,  in  a  small  work  entitled  *  The  Divine  Love  and 
Wisdom.'1  He  there  tells  us,  in  so  many  words,  that 
the  life  of  man  is  love.  Though  man  is  not  aware  of 
the  nature  of  love,  he  is  fully  aware  of  its  existence,  it  is 
ordinarily  referred  to  in  conversation.  But  although  love 
is  so  universally  spoken  of,  scarcely  anyone  knows  what 
it  is.  Man  is  unable  to  form  any  definite  idea  of  it.  He 
is  entirely  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  love  is  his  very  life, 
not  only  the  general  life  of  his  whole  body  and  of  all  his 
thoughts,  but  also  the  life  of  their  minutest  details. 
Unless  it  is  known  that  man's  life  is  love,  sensation  and 
action  or  thought  might  conceivably  be  so  considered. 
Some  idea  of  love  as  being  the  life  of  man  may  be  formed 
from  the  heat  of  the  sun.  It  is  well  known  that  this  heat 
is,  as  it  were,  the  common  life  of  all  vegetation.  Love 
and  heat  mutually  correspond,  and  therefore  love  is  warm. 

God  alone  is  love  itself,  for  He  is  life  itself,  angels 
and  men  are  but  recipients  of  life.  God  is  uncreate  and 

1  Dent,  ‘  Everyman’s  Library.’ 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


27 

infinite,  and  no  man  could  be  created  from  the  Uncreate 
and  Infinite,  for  the  Divine  is  one  and  indivisible.  Man 
can  only  be  brought  into  existence  by  means  of  created 
and  finite  substances,  so  formed  that  the  Divine  may 
dwell  in  them.  Men  so  created  are  recipients  of  life,  but 
possess  no  inherent  life.  For  a  man  to  suppose  that  he 
has  inherent  life  inevitably  leads  to  a  belief  that  he  is 
god — a  form  of  idolatry  entailing  eventually  the  negation 
of  all  religion. 

Man  does  not  receive  life  from  his  father,  but  only  a 
primary  and  elementary  form  capable  of  receiving  life, 
to  which,  as  a  nucleus,  are  successively  added  from  the 
mother  substances  and  materials  in  forms  adapted  to  the 
reception  of  life  in  its  order  and  degree. 

From  this  fundamental  theory  of  the  origin  of  life 
it  is  easy  to  follow  Swedenborg  in  his  theory  of  creation. 
God  is  not  in  space.  Space  is  a  natural,  material  con¬ 
ception.  God  is,  however,  omnipresent.  To  think  about 
God  from  space  is  to  think  of  the  expanse  of  nature.  God 
is  life — hence  being.  Where  there  is  life  or  existence 
there  must  of  necessity  be  expression  or  manifestation. 
Being  and  manifestation  thus  form  a  one,  and  yet  they 
are  distinct,  they  are  indeed  like  love  and  wisdom,  for 
love  is  being,  wisdom,  manifestation ;  love  does  not 
manifest  itself  except  in  wisdom ;  being  cannot  exist 
without  manifestation.  God  must  therefore  have  a  form. 
God  is  indeed  a  man,  He  is  the  self-manifest  God  from 
whom  all  things  are.  God  is  infinite,  not  only  because 
He  is  Being  itself  and  Manifestation  itself,  but  because 
there  are  infinite  things  in  Him. 

Let  us  now  pause  to  consider  the  riddle  of  the  universe. 
God  is  omnipresent,  but  He  is  not  in  space,  nor  con¬ 
sequently  in  time.  He  is  infinite  Being,  but  as  we  have 
seen,  infinite  Being  cannot  exist  unless  it  makes  itself 
manifest.  Hence  God  must  be  infinitely  operating,  eter¬ 
nally  emanating  love  and  wisdom,  which,  proceeding,  as 
we  shall  presently  see,  through  degrees  of  substances, 
rests  as  it  were,  or  is  based  on  creation;  the  lowest, 
coarsest  manifestation  of  divine  operation ;  the  last  product 
has  become  finite  nature  conditioned  in  time  and  space. 


28 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


Further,  God  is  infinite  Love  and  Wisdom,  He  is 
omnipresent,  omnipotent,  and  also  omniscient.  The  All- 
Wise  cannot  act  against  His  own  infinite  Wisdom,  the 
laws  by  which  He  acts  have  not  been  arbitrarily  framed. 
Infinite  Wisdom  can  only  act  infinitely  wisely,  hence  there 
is  even  in  the  lowest  forms  of  nature  an  infinity  of  wisdom, 
and  things  are  as  they  are,  not  because  they  have  been 
arbitrarily  so  created,  but  because  they  could  not  be 
otherwise.  Every  created  thing  is  instinct  with  wisdom, 
and  must  consequently  be  representative  of  spiritual 
things  and  spiritual  truth ;  this  is  obvious,  and  on  this 
Swedenborg  bases  his  law  of  correspondence,  by  means  of 
which  he  explains  the  spiritual  lessons  contained  in  the 
Bible, 

In  the  Book  of  Genesis  we  are  told  that  God  created 
man  in  His  own  image,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils 
the  breath  of  life.  This  shows  that  man  is  an  organ  of 
life  and  not  life  itself,  for  God  could  not  create  another 
god,  nor  could  He  create  life,  but  He  could  create  man 
a  form  receptive  of  life,  as  He  can  create  an  eye,  a  form 
receptive  of  light ;  moreover,  God  cannot  divide  His  own 
essence,  which  is  one  and  indivisible.  As  God  alone  is 
life,  He,  from  His  life,  quickens  a  given  life  to  every  man. 
Without  such  quickening  man  would  be  as  to  his  flesh  a 
mere  sponge,  and  as  to  his  bones  a  mere  skeleton,  with¬ 
out  more  life  in  him  than  is  possessed  by  a  clock  which 
derives  its  motion  from  a  pendulum  or  from  a  weight  or 
a  spring.  Consequently  God  flows  into  every  man  with 
all  His  divine  life — i.e.  with  all  His  divine  love  and 
divine  wisdom,  for  the  Divine  cannot  be  divided.  An 
illustration  is  afforded  by  the  action  of  the  sun  of  this 
world.  As  the  sun  with  all  its  essence,  consisting  of 
heat  and  light,  flows  into  every  tree,  fruit,  flower,  and 
stone,  and  as  every  object  absorbs  its  portion  of  this 
general  influx,  whilst  the  sun  itself  does  not  divide  its 
heat  and  light,  distributing  a  part  here  and  a  part  there,  but 
radiates  it  uniformly,  so  the  sun  of  heaven  equally  radiates 
divine  love,  which  proceeds  as  heat,  and  divine  wisdom, 
which  proceeds  as  light.  These  irradiate  -or  flow  into 
human  minds,  just  as  the  heat  and  light  of  the  material 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


29 


sun  enter  into  bodies,  and  impart  life  to  them  according 
to  the  quality  of  the  recipient  forms,  each  of  which  takes 
as  much  as  it  needs  from  the  common  influx.  The  Lord 
is  omnipresent,  and  wherever  He  is  present,  which  is 
everywhere.  He  is  present  with  His  whole  essence,  and 
affords  man  the  capacity  of  taking  either  little  or  much. 
In  short,  all  things  are  full  of  God,  and  everyone  takes 
his  portion  from  that  fullness.  Nevertheless,  Swedenborg 
must  not  be  regarded  as  teaching  pantheism,  God  is 
the  creator  of  the  universe.  He  and  nature  are  not  one. 
Thus,  it  is  not  the  fire  of  the  sun  that  passes  to  the  earth, 
for  that  would  burn  up  and  consume  all  things,  but  it  is 
light  wherein  is  heat  from  the  sun,  and  this  light  is  a 
spiritual  representation  of  the  Divine  truth,  the  heat  is 
the  good  in  the  truth  from  the  Divine  good,  and  the 
paradise  thence  is  Heaven, 

From  the  Divine  Love  and  from  the  Divine  Wisdom, 
which  together  constitute  the  very  Essence  which  is  God, 
arise  all  the  affections  and  thoughts  of  man,  for  all  things 
of  man,  both  in  general  and  in  particular,  are  simply 
affection  and  thought,  and  nothing  else — these  two  are 
the  sources  of  all  things  of  his  life.  This  very  Essence, 
which,  as  we  have  stated,  is  not  inherent  in  nature,  but 
outside  nature,  outside  creation,  is  nevertheless  substance 
and  form  in  itself,  and  hence  the  one  only  reality,  the 
true  and  only  Essence,  and  consequently  the  true  and 
only  life.  But  the  existence  of  this  Essence,  this  very 
love  and  wisdom,  immediately  postulates  something  else. 
As  Swedenborg  points  out,  the  essential  of  love  is  to  be 
loved  by  others,  for  loving  self  is  not  the  essential  of 
love:  this  is  obvious.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  Divine 
Love  must  needs  be  and  exist  in  others  whom  it  may 
love  and  by  whom  it  can  be  loved.  These  others  must 
be  such  in  whom  there  is  nothing  of  the  Divine  in  itself : 
they  must  be  beings  created  from  the  Divine,  and  this 
can  only  be  effected  by  Infinite  Wisdom,  which  must 
make  one  with  Infinite  Love,  Swedenborg  here  entreats 
the  reader  to  endeavour  to  banish  all  ideas  of  time  and 
space  from  his  mind,  for  the  Divine  is  not  in  either, 

Swedenborg  has  been  accused  of  mysticism,  but  his 


30 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


most  mystical  postulate,  namely,  that  the  created  universe 
is  an  image  representative  of  God  Man,  and  that  it  is 
His  love  and  wisdom  which  in  the  universe  are  pre¬ 
sented  in  an  image,  seems  an  obvious  truism.  The 
Divine  is  thus  in  all  things  in  the  universe,  in  general  and 
in  particular.  In  every  seed  there  is  the  idea  of  the 
infinite  and  the  eternal ;  for  there  is  in  seeds  an  effort 
to  multiply  and  to  fructify  to  infinity  and  to  eternity. 
The  same  is  also  true  with  regard  to  every  living  creature, 
no  matter  how  small,  for  all  living  creatures  have  the 
organs  of  the  senses,  perfect  details  of  anatomy,  not  to 
speak  of  the  stupendous  things  in  their  instincts. 

All  these  things  are  from  God,  but  the  forms  in  which 
they  are  clothed  are  from  the  material  substances  of  the 
earth.  All  things  created  in  a  certain  image  have  relation 
to  man,  and  this  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  organs 
and  viscera  of  animals  are  in  common  with  those  of  man. 
Their  appetites  and  affections  are  not  dissimilar  either. 
The  relation  of  man  to  the  vegetable  kingdom  is  equally 
obvious,  though  his  relation  to  the  mineral  kingdom  is 
less  so. 

As  God  is  a  Man  the  created  universe  is  His  image ; 
for  the  general  relation  of  all  things  is  to  Him  as  the 
particular  relation  is  to  man.  The  uses  of  all  things 
ascend  by  degrees  to  man  and  by  man  to  the  Creator, 
from  Whom  they  are. 

Swedenborg  divides  all  created  things  into  three  cate¬ 
gories.  The  last  things  are  those  of  the  mineral  kingdom. 
In  these  lie  concealed  all  the  uses  of  life.  The  end  of 
all  uses  is  the  effort  of  producing  them,  and  the  beginning 
is  the  force  acting  out  of  that  effort. 

The  middle  things  are  those  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
The  uses  of  these  are  for  all  things  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
which  they  nourish,  delight,  and  vivify.  The  effort 
towards  these  things  is  also  in  them  from  life. 

The  first  things  include  the  entire  animal  kingdom. 

There  are  three  degrees  of  ascent  in  the  natural  world 
and  three  degrees  of  ascent  in  the  spiritual  world,  all 
animals  being  recipients  of  life  of  the  former,  the  most 
perfect  of  all  three  degrees,  the  less  perfect  of  two,  and 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


3i 


the  imperfect  or  rudimentary  of  only  one  of  these  degrees* 
Man,  however,  is  the  recipient  of  life  of  all  degrees,  both 
natural  and  spiritual,  and  can  therefore  be  elevated  above 
nature,  and  can  think  analytically  and  rationally,  not  only 
of  the  civil  and  moral  things  in  nature,  but  also  of  the 
spiritual  and  celestial  things  above  nature,  and  he  can 
even  be  elevated  into  wisdom  so  as  to  be  able  to  see  God* 
Man  is  indeed  born  into  the  last  or  lowest  degree  of  the 
natural  world,  from  thence  he  is  elevated  by  sciences  or 
knowledge  into  the  second  degree,  and  in  proportion  as 
he  perfects  his  understanding  by  knowledge  he  is  elevated 
into  the  highest  degree  and  becomes  rational*  The  three 
degrees  of  ascent  in  the  spiritual  world  are  in  him  above 
the  three  natural  degrees,  but  do  not  appear  until  he  puts 
off  his  earthly  body,  when  they  are  successively  opened 
to  him,  but  the  third  degree  only  to  those  who  become 
angels  of  the  third  heaven,  who  alone  see  God.  These 
spiritual  degrees  are  opened  progressively,  according  to 
the  reception  by  man  of  the  Divine  love  and  wisdom 
from  the  Lord.  In  every  created  thing  there  is  reaction. 
Action  is  in  life  alone,  and  the  reaction  is  excited  by  the 
action  of  life.  Man  as  a  recipient  of  life  reacts  against 
God  from  his  hereditary  evil,  the  origin  of  which  will  be 
explained  later.  In  proportion,  however,  as  he  believes 
that  all  life  is  from  God,  and  that  all  the  good  of  life  is 
from  the  action  of  God,  and  all  the  evil  from  the  reaction 
of  man,  this  reaction  becomes  the  property  of  the  action, 
and  man  acts  with  God  as  from  himself. 

We  now  come  to  Swedenborg's  theory  of  the  creation. 
He  teaches  that  there  are  two  suns  through  which  all 
things  have  been  created  by  the  Lord:  the  sun  of  the 
spiritual  world,  and  the  sun  or  suns  of  the  natural  world. 
All  things  have  been  created  through  the  sun  of  the 
spiritual  world,  and  the  sun  of  the  natural  world  has  been 
created  to  render  subordinate  aid.  Siemens's  theory  of 
the  sun  ascribes  to  it  an  action  similar  to  that  of  the 
heart,  and  this  is  in  consonance  with  Swedenborg's 
theory.  According  to  Swedenborg,  there  are  three  things 
which  exist  in  every  created  thing,  namely:  end,  cause 
and  effect.  In  the  sun,  which  is  the  first  proceeding  of 


32 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


the  Divine  Love  and  the  Divine  Wisdom,  is  the  end  of 
all  things  ;  in  the  spiritual  world  are  the  causes  of  all 
things  ;  and  in  the  natural  world  are  the  effects  of  all 
things*  Seeing  that  no  created  thing  is  possible  in  which 
these  three  are  not,  it  follows  that  the  universe  and  all 
things  belonging  to  it  have  been  created  by  the  Lord 
through  the  sun,  where  is  the  end  of  all  things* 

No  conception  of  creation  is  possible  unless  the  idea 
of  time  and  space  is  mentally  eliminated.  If  the  mind  be 
kept,  in  idea,  abstracted  from  space  and  time,  the  maximum 
of  space  and  the  minimum  of  space  will  be  seen  to  differ 
in  no  respect,  a  similar  idea  can  then  be  formed  of  the 
creation  of  the  universe,  and  of  the  creation  of  the  par¬ 
ticular  things  in  the  universe*  It  will  be  clear  that  the 
diversity  in  the  created  things  is  conditioned  by  the  fact 
that  there  are  infinite  things  in  God-Man,  and  hence 
indefinite  things  in  the  sun  which  is  the  first  proceeding 
from  Him,  these  indefinite  things  exist  as  in  an  image 
in  the  universe.  Hence  no  two  things  can  anywhere  be 
the  same. 

The  creation  of  the  universe  and  all  things  belonging 
to  it  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  accomplished  from 
space  to  space  or  from  time  to  time,  progressively  and 
successively,  but  from  eternity  to  infinity* 

Let  us  for  one  moment  consider  the  import  of  this* 
Children  frequently  ask  their  parents  what  God  was 
doing  before  He  created  the  world*  Swedenborg's  postu¬ 
late  completely  answers  this  question*  But  we  will  allow 
Swedenborg  to  speak  for  himself*  In  speaking  of  *  the 
end,  the  cause,  and  the  effect,'  he  calls  them  *  the  first 
end,  the  middle,  and  the  last,'  and  he  says  : 

These  three  must  be  together  in  everything  in  order  that 
it  may  be  anything*  For  a  first  end  without  a  middle  end, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  last  end  is  impossible ;  or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  an  end  alone  without  a  cause  and  an  effect  is 
impossible.  So  neither  is  a  cause  alone  possible  without  an 
end  from  which  it  is ;  nor  is  an  effect  alone  possible,  that  is, 
an  effect  without  a  cause  and  its  end. 

He  proceeds  to  elaborate  this,  and  then  says  : 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


33 


These  three  things,  namely,  end,  cause,  and  effect,  are  in 
the  created  universe,  both  in  its  greatest  things  and  in  its  least 
things*  These  three  are  in  greatest  and  least  things  of  the 
created  universe,  because  these  three  are  in  God  the  Creator, 
Who  is  the  Lord  from  eternity.  .  .  .  The  universal  end,  the 
end  of  all  things  in  creation,  is  that  there  may  be  an  eternal  con¬ 
junction  of  the  Creator  with  the  created  universe  ;  and  this  is 
not  possible  unless  there  be  subjects  in  which  His  Divine  may 
be  as  in  Itself,  thus  in  which  it  may  dwell  and  abide.  In  order 
that  these  subjects  may  be  the  dwellings  and  mansions  of  Him¬ 
self,  they  must  be  recipients  of  His  love  and  wisdom  as  of  them¬ 
selves  ;  thus  they  must  be  those  who  shall  elevate  themselves  to 
the  Creator  as  of  themselves,  and  shall  conjoin  themselves  with 
Him :  without  this  reciprocity  no  conjunction  is  possible. 
These  subjects  are  men  who  are  able  to  elevate  and  conjoin 
themselves  as  of  themselves. 

Here  we  have  the  whole  philosophy  of  the  universe 
in  a  nutshell.  To  return  to  the  question  so  often  put 
by  children,  if  we  eliminate  time  and  space  in  connection 
with  our  attempted  conception  of  God,  we  see  at  once 
that  God  is  outside  time  and  space,  and  not  conditioned 
by  them.  Indeed  it  is  inconceivable  that  God  could  be 
conditioned  by  anything  except  His  own  love  and 
wisdom.  It  seems  further  inconceivable  that  infinite 
love  could  exist  without  having  objects  of  affection,  or 
that  infinite  wisdom  should  not  exercise  its  powers. 
Such  an  idea  suggests  a  state  of  inactivity  comparable 
only  with  death,  and  cannot  possibly,  therefore,  be  asso¬ 
ciated  with  the  Deity.  It  would  therefore  seem  permis¬ 
sible  and  logical  to  assume  that  creation  is  as  much  a 
law  as  any  of  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  that  if  this  earth  was  created  some  thousands 
or  even  millions  of  years  ago,  other  earths  and  other 
solar  systems  in  the  universe  may  have  been  created 
before,  and  may  be  in  continual  course  of  creation.  This 
idea  is  suggested  by  a  perusal  of  Swedenborg's  works, 
but  is  nowhere  definitely  formulated  by  him. 

Swedenborg  is  not  content  with  the  above  abstract 
philosophical  postulate.  He  proceeds  to  show  the  method 
by  means  of  which  creation  was  effected,  and  the  created 
universe  is  sustained,  or  shall  we  say  maintained,  in 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


34 

existence*  We  are  to-day  becoming  familiarised  with  the 
idea  that  there  exists  a  spiritual  world,  and  that  com¬ 
munication  with  this  world  is  not  impossible;  hence 
Swedenborg's  claim  that  his  spiritual  senses  were  opened, 
and  that  facts  concerning  the  spiritual  world  were  com¬ 
municated  to  him,  does  not  present  the  difficulties  it  did 
to  our  forefathers* 

He  informs  us  that  the  spiritual  and  natural  worlds 
are  alike,  and  that  there  are  consequently  atmospheres, 
waters,  and  earths  in  both,  from  which  general  conditions 
all  things  exist  in  general  and  in  particular  in  infinite 
variety*  The  atmospheres,  which  are  called  ethers  and 
airs,  are  alike  in  both  worlds,  but  are,  of  course,  spiritual 
in  the  one  and  natural  in  the  other* 

The  spiritual  atmospheres  exist  from  the  spiritual  sun, 
which  is  the  first  emanation  of  the  Divine  Love  and  the 
Divine  Wisdom  of  the  Lord,  and  from  Him  receive  in 
themselves  Divine  fire,  which  is  love,  and  Divine  light, 
which  is  wisdom,  and  carry  these  down  to  the  heavens 
where  are  the  angels,  and  cause  the  presence  of  that  sun 
in  the  greatest  and  in  the  least  things  there*  The 
spiritual  atmospheres  are  discrete  substances  or  least 
forms  originating  from  the  sun  ;  and  as  they  each  singly 
receive  the  sun,  therefore  the  fire  of  the  sun,  divided 
into  so  many  substances  or  forms,  and  enveloped  by  them, 
and  tempered  by  these  envelopments,  becomes  heat  suit¬ 
able  for  the  love  of  the  angels  in  heaven  and  the  spirits 
under  heaven*  The  same  applies  to  the  light  of  the  sun, 
which  thus  becomes  adapted  to  the  wisdom  of  the  angels 
and  spirits.  In  this  respect  the  atmospheres  of  the 
natural  world  resemble  those  of  the  spiritual  world*  They 
are  also  discrete  substances  and  least  forms,  they  originate 
from  the  sun  of  the  natural  world,  and  singly  receive 
the  sun  and  store  up  its  fire  in  themselves,  tempering  it 
and  carrying  it  down  as  heat  to  the  earth,  the  dwelling- 
place  of  man ;  and  in  like  manner  the  light*  There  is, 
however,  this  difference  between  the  spiritual  and  the 
natural  atmospheres — the  first  are  receptacles  of  Divine 
fire  and  light,  thus  of  love  and  wisdom,  for  these  they 
cannot  contain  of  themselves ;  whilst  the  natural  atmo- 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


35 


spheres  are  only  receptacles  of  the  fire  and  light  of  their 
own  sun,  which  is  material  and  consequently  dead* 
There  is  therefore  nothing  in  them  interiorly  from  the 
sun  of  the  spiritual  world,  although  they  are  nevertheless 
environed  by  the  spiritual  atmospheres  emanating  from 
the  spiritual  sun* 

In  the  spiritual  world  there  are  also  waters  and  lands 
as  in  the  natural  world,  though  they  are  spiritual  in  the 
one  and  natural  in  the  other*  The  atmospheres,  says 
Swedenborg,  are  the  active  forces,  the  waters  the  middle 
forces,  and  the  earths  the  passive  forces  from  which  all 
effects  exist*  That  these  three  forces  are  in  their  series 
is  due  solely  to  the  life  emanating  from  the  Lord  as  a 
sun  and  causing  them  to  be  active* 

Here  we  have  laid  down  a  perfectly  clear,  logical 
and  progressive  theory  of  the  universe  spiritual  and 
natural,  the  one  sustaining  and,  as  it  were,  feeding  the 
other* 

It  now  becomes  necessary  to  examine  Swedenborg's 
theory  of  degrees  by  means  of  which  the  riddle  of  the 
universe  is  still  further  explained* 

He  postulates  degrees  of  love  and  wisdom,  and  conse¬ 
quently  degrees  of  heat  and  light  and  also  degrees  of 
atmospheres*  He  says  that  there  are  three  heavens,  and 
that  the  angels  of  the  third  heaven  so  far  excel  the  angels 
of  the  second  heaven  in  love  and  wisdom — these  the 
angels  of  the  last  or  ultimate  heaven — that  they  cannot 
be  together  because  they  are  distinguished  and  separated 
by  degrees  of  love  and  wisdom*  Since  there  are  degrees 
of  love  and  wisdom,  there  are  also  degrees  of  spiritual 
heat  and  light*  The  atmospheres  being  receptacles  and 
containers  of  heat  and  light,  there  are  necessarily  as  many 
degrees  of  atmospheres  as  there  are  degrees  of  heat  and 
light  and  of  love  and  wisdom*  The  science  of  degrees 
is  the  key  to  the  knowledge  of  the  causes  of  things* 
Without  it  the  objects  and  subjects  of  the  natural  and 
spiritual  worlds  appear  so  similar  that  it  would  seem  that 
there  was  nothing  to  learn  about  them  except  what  is 
seen  by  the  eye,  and  yet  the  things  that  lie  hidden  within 
are  in  the  proportion  of  one  to  a  thousand  or  to  tens  of 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


36 

thousands.  The  interiors,  which  are  concealed,  cannot 
be  revealed  without  a  knowledge  of  degrees,  for  exteriors 
pass  to  interiors,  and  by  these  to  intimates,  through 
degrees,  but  through  discrete  degrees.  Continuous 
degrees  grade  off  from  grosser  to  finer  or  from  denser 
to  rarer,  or  they  may  be  described  as  growths  or  increas- 
ings  from  finer  to  grosser  or  from  rarer  to  denser,  just 
as  the  stages  of  light  to  darkness  or  of  heat  to  cold. 

Discrete  degrees,  on  the  other  hand,  are  as  things 
prior,  posterior  and  ultimate,  or  as  end,  cause  and  effect. 
These  degrees  Swedenborg  calls  discrete,  because  they 
are  separate  and  not  continuous,  each  degree  being  by 
itself,  and  yet  taken  together  they  make  one.  The 
atmospheres  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  e.g,,  from 
the  sun  to  the  earth,  the  ethers  and  the  airs,  are  segre¬ 
gated  into  such  degrees  ;  and  they  stand  as  simples  and 
aggregates,  and  again  as  aggregates  of  aggregates,  thus 
forming  a  composite.  Such  degrees  are  called  discrete 
because  they  exist  separately  or  distinctly,  and  are  called 
also  by  Swedenborg  degrees  of  altitude,  whilst  the 
continuous  degrees,  which  increase  continuously,  he  calls 
degrees  of  latitude. 

Now,  all  existing  things,  both  in  the  spiritual  and  the 
natural  world,  in  general  and  in  particular,  co-exist  simul¬ 
taneously  from  both  categories  of  degrees,  from  degrees 
of  altitude  and  degrees  of  latitude.  Unless  these  two 
kinds  of  degrees  are  known,  causes  cannot  be  under¬ 
stood,  causes  being  usually  arrived  at  by  induction  con¬ 
tinuous  with  effects.  But  causes,  Swedenborg  maintains, 
do  not  produce  effects  by  continuity,  but  by  discreteness ; 
for  the  cause  is  one  thing,  and  the  effect  another.  The 
distinction  between  the  two  is  the  same  as  the  distinction 
between  what  is  prior  and  what  is  posterior,  or  between 
the  thing  that  forms  and  the  thing  that  is  formed. 

Thus,  there  are  threz  heavens,  and  these  are  distinct 
one  from  the  other  by  degrees  of  altitude ;  these  heavens 
are  one  under  the  other,  and  can  only  communicate  with 
each  other  by  emanation  or  influx,  which  is  effected  by  the 
Lord  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  not  conversely. 
But  each  heaven  is  divided  within  itself  by  degrees  of 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


37 

latitude*  Those  who  are  in  the  centre  are  in  the  light 
of  wisdom,  but  those  at  the  circumference  are  in  the 
shade  of  wisdom*  Wisdom  thus  gradually  decreases  to 
ignorance  as  light  decreases  to  darkness*  It  is  the  same 
with  man*  The  interiors,  or  the  things  in  the  mind,  are 
distinguished  in  the  same  number  of  degrees  as  the 
angelic  heavens,  one  above  the  other*  There  are  also  in 
man  continuous  degrees,  as  in  Heaven* 

The  degrees  of  latitude,  or  continuous  degrees,  are 
like  gradations  from  light  to  shade,  from  dense  to  dilute, 
and  from  thick  to  thin,  and  these  require  no  special 
elucidation*  But  degrees  of  altitude  are  less  known  and 
not  so  obvious*  It  is  of  course  known  that  end,  cause, 
and  effect  form  an  orderly  sequence,  like  prior,  posterior, 
and  ultimate,  and  that  the  end  produces  the  cause,  and 
through  the  cause  the  effect* 

All  things  on  earth  are  in  three  dimensions,  all  com¬ 
posites  consist  of  degrees  of  altitude.  Swedenborg 
illustrates  this  by  showing  how  every  muscle  in  the 
body  consists  of  small  fibres  which  are  grouped  together 
in  bundles  forming  larger  fibres,  called  motor  fibres,  and 
how  groups  of  these  form  the  compound  called  a  muscle* 
It  is  the  same  with  nerves,  and  in  all  things  of  the  vege¬ 
table  and  mineral  kingdoms  in  general  and  in  particular. 
The  case  is  the  same  with  the  organic  substances  which 
are  the  receptacles  and  dwelling  of  the  thoughts  and 
affections  in  the  brain,  with  the  atmospheres,  with  heat 
and  light,  and  with  love  and  wisdom*  For  the  atmo¬ 
spheres  are  the  receptacles  of  heat  and  light,  and  the 
latter  are  the  receptacles  of  love  and  wisdom*  Just  as 
there  are  degrees  of  the  atmospheres,  so  there  are  degrees 
of  heat  and  light  and  of  love  and  wisdom*  The  degrees 
of  each  subject  and  thing  are  homogeneous*  The  first 
degree,  by  massing  of  parts,  produces  the  second,  and 
through  it  the  third,  and  separates  each  from  the  other 
by  drawing  an  envelope  round  it*  It  is  thus  evident 
that  the  first  degree  is  principal  and  singly  regnant  in  the 
others,  and  is  in  all  things  of  the  subsequent  degrees* 
From  this  it  follows  that  the  Divine,  which  is  substance 
in  itself — that  is  to  say,  single  and  sole  substance — is  the 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


38 

same  of  all  created  things  in  general  and  in  particular ; 
thus  that  God  is  in  all  things  of  the  universe. 

Degrees  are  in  two  kinds  of  order,  in  successive  order 
and  in  simultaneous  order.  The  successive  order  being 
likened  to  a  column  divided  into  three  steps,  up  and  down 
which  ascent  and  descent  can  be  made,  while  successive 
order  is  lateral,  or  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  spiritual  world  the  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom  appear  as  a  sun.  That  sun  is  not  the 
Lord  Himself  but  from  the  Lord ;  it  is  Divine  Love  and 
Divine  Wisdom  emanating  from  Him.  The  Lord  from 
Eternity — that  is,  Jehovah — produced  from  Himself  the  sun 
in  the  spiritual  world  and  out  of  it  created  the  universe 
and  all  things  in  it.  For  there  are  three  degrees  of 
altitude  in  the  Lord,  infinite  and  uncreated.  The  Lord 
being  Love  itself  and  Wisdom  itself  is  also  Use  itself. 
Love  and  wisdom  apart  from  use  have  no  limit  or  end, 
and  it  cannot  consequently  be  predicated  of  them  that 
they  exist  unless  there  be  a  use  in  which  they  are.  This 
theoretical  postulate  is  so  evident  and  logical  that  it 
needs  no  further  elaboration. 

It  follows  that  the  Lord  created  the  universe  and  all 
things  thereof  from  Himself,  for  He  could  not  have 
created  it  from  nothing,  ex  nihilo  nihil  fit .  All  things 
must  have  been  created  out  of  a  substance,  and  as  God 
alone  is  substance  in  itself  it  follows  that  the  existence 
of  things  can  be  from  no  other  source.  But  the  Lord 
could  not  have  created  the  universe  without  being  a  man. 
The  conception  of  the  Lord  as  a  man  must  be  separated 
from  purely  natural  conditions  of  time  and  space.  The 
Divine  is  the  same  in  the  first  things  and  in  the  last, 
in  the  greatest  things  and  the  least,  for  the  Divine  is 
not  in  space,  but  fills  all  spaces  apart  from  space. 

The  spiritual  sun  is  not  the  Lord,  but  is  an  emanation 
from  His  divine  love  and  His  divine  wisdom.  This 
spiritual  sun  is  thus  a  sphere  or  aura  like  the  sphere  of 
affections  and  thoughts  which  encompasses  every  human 
being.  Swedenborg  asserts  that  such  spheres  are  emitted 
by  every  angel,  and  that  a  society  of  angels  possesses  a 
general  sphere  ;  and  he  further  states  that  he  has  acquired 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


39 


the  conviction  that  a  sphere  consisting  of  substances  set 
free  and  separated  from  him  encompasses  every  individual, 
whether  in  heaven  or  in  helL  Spheres  also  well  forth 
from  every  single  thing  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  the 
same  is  true  of  the  natural  world,  where  it  has  been 
scientifically  established  that  waves  of  effluvia  are  con¬ 
tinually  flowing  forth  out  of  man,  animals,  trees,  fruit, 
and  flowers,  and  even  metals  and  stones* 

The  spiritual  sun  is  such  an  emanation  or  sphere 
about  the  Lord  and  from  Him,  but  is  not  the  Lord  Him¬ 
self,  consequently  the  constituents  of  the  spiritual  sun 
are  not  the  Lord  Himself,  and  are  therefore  not  essential 
life,  but  are,  on  the  contrary,  devoid  of  life  in  themselves* 

According  to  Swedenborg  : 

There  are  three  things  in  the  Lord  which  are  the  Lord,  the 
Divine  of  Love,  the  Divine  of  Wisdom,  and  the  Divine  of  Use  ; 
and  these  three  are  presented  in  appearance  outside  the  sun 
of  the  spiritual  world,  the  Divine  of  Love  by  heat,  the  Divine 
of  Wisdom  by  light,  and  the  Divine  of  Use  by  atmosphere, 
which  is  the  continent* 

He  elaborates  this  postulate  by  showing  that  love 
must  have  something  to  be  loved ;  this  something  is  use, 
and  is  therefore  produced  by  wisdom,  hence  it  follows 
that  love,  wisdom,  and  use  succeed  in  order  according 
to  the  degrees  of  altitude,  and  that  the  last  degree  is  the 
complex  continent  and  basis  of  the  prior  degrees*  *  From 
these  things/  he  concludes,  *  it  may  appear  that  these 
three,  the  Divine  of  Love,  the  Divine  of  Wisdom,  and 
the  Divine  of  Use  are  in  the  Lord,  and  that  in  essence 
they  are  the  Lord/  The  Lord  being  omnipresent, 
cannot  make  Himself  present,  as  He  is  in  Himself  and 
as  He  is  in  His  own  sun,  to  any  angel  or  man ;  He  there¬ 
fore  presents  Himself  as  to  love  through  heat,  as  to  wisdom 
through  light,  and  as  to  use  through  atmosphere,  the 
latter  being  the  continent  of  heat  and  light,  just  as  use  is 
the  continent  of  love  and  wisdom*  In  other  words,  the 
light  and  heat  proceeding  from  the  Divine  sun  cannot  pro¬ 
ceed  in  a  vacuum,  but  must  have  a  medium  or  continent, 
this  is  supplied  by  the  atmosphere  which  surrounds  the  sun* 

There  is  thus  one  only  substance  from  which  all  things 


40 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


are,  and  that  substance  is  the  sun  of  the  spiritual  world. 
This  sun,  like  the  Divine,  of  which  it  is  an  emanation, 
is  not  in  space,  but  is  the  same  in  the  greatest  and  least 
things.  This  one  only  substance,  proceeding  by  means 
of  atmospheres  according  to  continuous  degrees  (of 
latitude),  and  simultaneously  according  to  discrete  degrees 
(of  altitude),  presents  the  varieties  of  all  things  in  the 
created  universe. 

In  both  the  spiritual  and  natural  (which  might  for 
convenience  be  described  as  the  substantial  and  material) 
worlds  there  are  three  atmospheres,  distinct  from  each 
other  according  to  degrees  of  altitude,  and  decreasing  in 
their  downward  progression  according  to  degrees  of 
latitude.  As  the  atmospheres  decrease  in  their  down¬ 
ward  progression  they  become  continually  more  com¬ 
pressed  and  inert  until  they  cease  to  be  atmospheres  and 
become  substances  at  rest,  and  in  the  natural  world  fixed 
substances,  like  those  in  the  earth  which  are  described  as 
matter.  Substance  and  matter  are  consequently  of  three 
degrees,  are  held  together  in  mutual  connection  by  the 
circumambient  atmospheres,  and  are  accommodated  to 
the  production  of  all  uses  in  their  forms. 

Let  us  reflect  on  what  this  involves. 

The  primary  cause  of  all  things  is  God-Man,  or  the 
Lord.  The  first  emanation  from  God  is  the  sun  of  the 
spiritual  world.  Atmospheres  are  the  things  through 
which  that  sun  presents  or  manifests  itself  in  ultimates, 
as  they  continually  decrease  in  activity  and  expansion 
down  to  the  ultimates ;  these,  when  the  activity  and  ex¬ 
pansion  ceases,  become  substance  and  matter,  but  retain 
from  the  atmospheres  from  which  they  originated  an 
effort  or  innate  endeavour  to  bring  forth  uses.  Yet 
there  is  nothing  of  the  Divine  in  itself  in  the  substance 
and  matter  of  the  earths.  Substance  and  matter  are  the 
ends  and  terminations  of  atmospheres,  the  heat  of  which 
has  gradually  ended  in  cold,  the  light  in  darkness,  the 
activity  in  inertia ;  but  they  have  nevertheless  brought, 
by  continuation  from  the  substance  of  the  spiritual  sun, 
that  which  was  there  from  the  Divine.  From  the  sphere 
encompassing  the  Lord,  by  continuation  from  the  sun, 


LIFE  AND  CREATION 


4i 


by  means  of  the  atmospheres,  have  arisen  the  substance 
and  matter  of  which  the  earths  consist*  We  have  thus 
a  clear,  logical,  consistent,  and  scientific  explanation  or 
solution  of  the  riddle  of  the  universe*  There  is  nothing 
miraculous  or  arbitrary  in  this  conception  of  God's  relation 
to,  or  creation  of,  the  world ;  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  scientific 
and  orderly,  the  disorder  which  is  sometimes  apparent 
in  nature  arises  from  other  causes  as  we  shall  presently 
see  when  we  come  to  deal  with  the  origin  of  evil*  We 
must,  however,  guard  ourselves  against  an  automatic 
conception  of  the  universe*  The  constant  Divine  action 
is  not  only  general  but  particular,  it  is  in  small  things 
as  well  as  in  great,  and,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to 
consider  the  governance  of  the  universe,  the  Divine  Love 
and  Wisdom  never  rests,  but  is  always  in  operation  govern¬ 
ing  all  things,  but  always  in  accordance  with  law  and 
order*  Lawlessness  and  disorder  are  evil* 

We  will  conclude  this  chapter  with  a  reference  to  an 
article  by  Camille  Flammarion  in  a  journal  entitled  Vers 
U  Unite.  He  tells  us  that  we  inhabit  the  surface  of  a 
globe  a  thousand  times  smaller  than  the  planet  Jupiter 
which  is  a  thousand  times  smaller  than  the  sun  which 
is  a  thousand  times  smaller  than  Sirius  which  is  a  thousand 
times  smaller  than  Canopus*  The  sun  is  but  one  of  the 
stars  of  the  Milky  Way.  Space  is  infinite ;  we  might 
travel  for  thousands  of  centuries  without  ever  reaching 
its  limits,  for  it  has  no  circumference*  One  of  these  days 
we  shall  die.  Will  the  soul  survive  the  body  i  If  thought 
be  a  product  of  the  brain,  the  answer  is  No*  But  it  is 
Yes  if  dynamics  govern  matter  and  the  organism  is  formed 
by  a  psychic  force*  We  know  to-day  that  what  appears 
to  be  matter  is  composed  of  infinitely  small  atoms,  in¬ 
tangible  and  imponderable,  which  are  directed  by  an 
invisible  energy,  whether  it  be  a  question  of  the  stars 
gravitating  in  space  or  of  molecules  constituting  living 
beings*  The  materialistic  hypothesis  is  thus  increasingly 
losing  its  apparent  probability*  In  this  connection 
appearances  are  as  deceptive  as  they  are  in  the  false  con¬ 
ception  of  the  immobility  of  the  earth*  If  our  souls 
survive,  we  have  an  eternity  before  us* 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Origin  of  Evil 


Just  as  the  love  of  God  is  the  beginning  of  all  wisdom,  so 
in  the  love  of  self  is  the  origin  of  all  eviL  But  how  is 
it,  one  may  ask,  that  God,  who  is  the  Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  Creator  and  Sustainer  of 
the  world  and  of  life,  can  suffer  that  life  of  which  He  is 
the  source  to  be  perverted  into  evil  i  We  have  seen  how 
all  things  exist  from  and  through  God,  we  have  seen  that 
the  principle  of  life  is  love,  and  that  love  is  in  its  essence 
divine  ;  how  then  is  it  possible  that  the  offspring  of  the 
Divine  should  be  suffered  to  be  turned  into  hate,  its 
opposite  i  The  Christian  religion,  however,  teaches  that 
Christ  who  descended  from  Heaven  and  was  made  man 
was  crucified*  God  is  crucified  every  day  by  the  wicked* 
But  how  can  it  be  that  an  omnipotent  Creator  who  is 
essentially  Divine  Love  should  allow  evil  to  exist,  should 
permit  human  beings  to  be  selfish  i  Surely  it  would 
have  been  just  as  easy  to  create  men  good  {  This  is  the 
usual  superficial  way  of  regarding  the  problem  of  the 
existence  and  origin  of  evil*  And  yet  some  of  the  pro- 
foundest  thinkers  have  been  unable  to  explain  the  apparent 
paradox*  John  Stuart  Mill  for  instance,  who  was  able 
to  perceive  and  explain  the  importance  of  liberty,  never¬ 
theless  lacked  sufficient  insight  to  comprehend  that 
liberty  involved  freedom  of  choice  between  good  and  evil* 
So  far  was  he  from  seeing  what  the  doctrine  of  liberty 
implied  that  he  confessed  that  it  was  the  existence  of  evil 
which  was  the  great  stumbling-block  in  his  way,  and 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


43 

had  shaken  his  faith*  He  was  an  atheist  because  he  could 
not  see  far  enough* 

Swedenborg  teaches  that  God  is  not  only  Divine  Love, 
but  also  Divine  Wisdom*  Swedenborg  was  as  great  a 
believer  in  liberty  as  J*  Stuart  Mill,  and  taught  that  true 
liberty  meant  self-control,  whilst  to  be  under  the  domina¬ 
tion  of  evil  was  to  be  in  a  state  of  bondage  and  not  in 
liberty* 

The  Divine  Wisdom  cannot  compel  men  to  be  good 
and  happy,  it  can  but  give  them  freedom  of  choice,  for 
compulsory  goodness,  it  is  evident,  can  only  lead  to 
rebellion  and  discontent*  If  we  had  been  created  beings 
without  a  self-hood,  without  free  will-power,  we  should 
have  been  animals  only,  obeying  our  instincts  which 
might  have  been  good,  but  could  never  have  grown  or 
developed*  St*  Paul  has  said  that  to  be  carnally  minded 
is  death,  and  this  is  obviously  true,  for  it  is  self-evident 
that  in  order  not  to  die  but  to  live  a  spiritual  life,  man 
must  be  spiritually  minded,  he  must  be  raised  above  the 
carnal  things  of  the  material  world  and  have  a  taste,  a 
desire,  for  the  things  of  the  spiritual  world*  Indeed, 
this  longing  for  something  else,  something  more  than 
the  good  things  of  the  material  world,  is  innate  in  human 
nature ;  it  almost  amounts  to  an  instinct,  and  curiously 
enough,  it  makes  itself  perhaps  most  palpably  felt  in 
the  case  of  highly  intellectual  unbelievers*  They 
seem  to  be  constantly  dissatisfied  with  the  emptiness  of 
pure  materialism,  they  feel  the  shallowness  of  such  a 
superficial  philosophy,  and  yet  they  reject  impatiently 
the  teachings  of  religion  which  they  class  with  the  fairy¬ 
tales  of  the  nursery*  Their  self-hood,  which  rebelled 
at  religion,  rebels  as  fiercely  against  the  prospect  of 
extinction*  Unconsciously  to  themselves  their  sub¬ 
conscious  self  refuses  to  accept  materialism,  refuses  to 
believe  in  death,  for  such  a  belief  is  contrary  to  our  self- 
knowledge*  We  know  that  we  are ,  we  are  taught  that 
matter  is  indestructible  :  how  then  can  we  believe  that 
our  self-consciousness,  our  spirit,  will  be  destroyed  i 

One  of  the  fundamental  instincts  in  animate  nature 
is  the  principle  of  self-preservation*  This  is  innate  in 


44 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


all  animals  and  it  is  particularly  strong  in  man ;  it  is  the 
lowest  and  the  most  elementary  form  of  self-love*  For 
unless  we  loved  ourselves  we  would  not  desire  to  preserve 
our  lives.  It  is  this  love  of  self,  which  is  implanted  in 
us  all,  which  is  the  great  motive  force  of  human  nature. 
It  prompts  our  ambition,  it  is  the  source  of  the  love  of 
glory  and  the  love  of  fame,  it  is  also  the  humble  and  lowest 
origin,  the  first  principle,  of  religion.  The  desire  to 
live  happily  after  death  must  be  admitted  to  be  in  its 
initial  stage  but  a  form  of  self-love.  We  thus  see  that 
the  Divine  Wisdom  works  upon  the  lowest  and  yet  the 
most  fundamental  motive  of  the  human  soul ;  it  is  through 
the  love  of  self,  through  the  instinct  of  self-preservation, 
that  we  are  gradually  led  to  higher  and  nobler  states, 
until  we  are  able,  as  Swedenborg  tells  us  the  highest 
angels  are,  to  be  so  unselfish  as  to  be  willing  to  sacrifice 
our  own  happiness  and  blessedness  if  by  so  doing  we 
could  bring  happiness  and  blessedness  to  the  wicked. 
But  this  may  not  be,  for  as  a  man  maketh  his  bed  so  shall 
he  lie  in  it. 

While  the  innate  love  of  self  is  not  of  itself  evil,  it 
may  very  easily  become  so  if  it  is  suffered  to  predominate. 
Swedenborg  teaches  that  the  love  of  self  must  be  kept 
subordinate  to  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  the  neigh¬ 
bour,  and  if  it  is  not  thus  kept  in  subjection  it  speedily 
takes  the  upper  hand  and  tramples  the  love  of  God  under 
foot.  For  the  love  of  self  leads  to  conceit  and  arrogance 
and  from  thence  to  the  most  dangerous  principle  of  all, 
the  idea  of  self-derived  intelligence,  the  idea  that  man  is 
sufficient  unto  himself,  that  all  his  knowledge  and  all  his 
wisdom  is  derived  from  his  own  efforts,  his  own  mentality, 
that  his  life  is  of  his  own  making,  that  such  success  as  he 
achieves  is  due  to  his  own  prudence,  that  he  owes  nothing 
to  God,  that  in  short  there  is  no  God,  and  that  he  is  his 
own  creator.  When  man  reaches  that  state  he  falls, 
he  is  expelled  or  rather  expels  himself  from  the  Garden 
of  Eden,  and  must  then  acquire  goodness  and  achieve 
the  conquest  of  himself  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow. 

This  is  the  immutable  law  of  the  Divine  Providence, 
and  it  is  so  because  it  cannot  be  otherwise.  The  laws  of 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


45 

God  are  what  they  are  because  they  are  the  laws  of  infinite 
wisdom,  and  just  as  it  is  impossible  by  taking  thought 
to  add  a  cubit  to  our  stature,  so  is  it  impossible  to  conceive 
of  any  other  system. 

There  is  a  school  of  thought  which  denies  that  we 
have  liberty,  which  maintains  that  we  are  predetermined 
by  heredity,  race,  constitution,  temperament,  circum¬ 
stances,  climate,  the  times  we  live  in,  and  the  conditions 
by  which  we  are  surrounded  to  a  certain  narrow  groove, 
and  that  our  every  action  is  really  involuntary,  inevitable, 
and  unalterable.  While  there  is  a  certain  element  of 
truth  in  this,  it  must  nevertheless  be  evident  to  the 
lowest  and  least  imaginative  intelligence  that  we  have 
always  before  us,  in  all  the  perplexities  of  life,  at  least 
two  alternatives.  Surely  that  is  sufficient.  That  our 
conduct  depends  very  largely,  if  not  always  entirely,  on 
our  volition  is  indeed  common  form ;  it  is  the  basis  of 
our  criminal  code,  of  the  system  of  rewards  and  punish¬ 
ments  of  civil  life.  Even  the  absolutely  atheistic,  such 
as,  for  instance,  the  Russian  Bolshevik  Communists, 
recognise  human  responsibility  and  administer  punish¬ 
ments  as  a  deterrent. 

But  to  return  to  the  origin  of  evil.  The  evil  that  men 
do  is  explicable ;  we  can  understand  crime  and  wicked¬ 
ness,  What  has  hitherto  been  inexplicable  is  the  presence 
of  evil  in  nature,  Voltaire  was  led  to  doubt  in  the 
existence  of  a  Providence  when  he  contemplated  the 
diseases  to  which  man  is  subject,  and  more  especially 
when  he  heard  of  the  Lisbon  earthquake.  How  could  a 
beneficent  omnipotent  Being  allow  such  things  to  occur  i 

Let  us  examine  what  Swedenborg  teaches  concerning 
such  manifestations  of  evil,  and  more  particularly  his 
theory  of  the  origin  of  evil. 

To  begin  with,  we  must  start  from  his  postulate  that 
the  end  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  is  the  existence 
of  a  heaven  peopled  by  happy  spirits  called  angels,  and 
as  this  heaven  is  from  the  human  race,  or  man,  the 
peopling  of  Heaven  is  the  true  end  of  creation.  The 
world  is  really  a  vast  laboratory  in  which  angelic  spirits 
are  crystallised  out  of  very  sordid  human  beings. 


46 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


But  if  the  end  of  creation  is  an  angelic  heaven 
produced  out  of  the  human  race,  and  consequently 
humanity,  it  follows  that  all  other  created  things  are 
mediate  ends,  whose  function  it  is  to  promote  this  great 
end — the  salvation  of  mankind,  or  the  peopling  of 
Heaven* 

All  good  things  are  from  God,  the  Lord,  and  conse¬ 
quently  all  evil  things  have  arisen  out  of  hell*  How  is 
this  possible  i  We  have  seen  that  the  created  universe 
consists  of  substances  and  matters  which,  although 
indirectly  emanating  from  the  Giver  of  life,  contain 
nothing  of  the  Divine  in  them,  for  they  are  the  ends  and 
terminations  of  atmospheres  whose  heat  has  ended  in 
cold,  their  light  in  darkness,  their  activity  in  inertia ; 
nevertheless  they  have  brought  by  continuation  from  the 
substance  of  the  Spiritual  Sun  that  which  was  in  that 
sun  from  the  Divine  and  was  the  sphere  encompassing 
God-Man,  or  the  Lord* 

Just  as  there  are  emanations  from  this  Spiritual  Sun, 
and  just  as  there  is  a  continual  and  infinite  influx  from 
the  Divine  both  directly  and  indirectly  into  the  natural 
material  universe,  so  also  is  there  a  constant  emanation 
of  evil  from  hell*  As  God  is  the  source  of  all  life  and 
every  existing  thing,  we  are  faced  with  the  paradox  that 
evil  must  also  be  from  God*  But  what  is  evil  but  the 
reverse  of  good,  the  perversion  of  goodness  i  Substance 
and  matter,  emanating  indirectly  from  God,  become,  as 
it  were,  the  culture-bed  in  which  the  human  soul  is 
prepared  for  Heaven ;  Divine  influx  is  continually  radiat¬ 
ing,  as  it  were,  upon  the  human  soul  and  the  conditions 
surrounding  it,  constantly  preparing  it  for  Heaven*  But 
opposed  to  these  beneficent  radiations  are  the  forces  of 
hell*  What  is  hell  i  Hell  is  the  abode  of  perverted 
spirits,  of  human  souls  who  have  preferred  darkness  to 
light,  who  have  chosen  evil  in  preference  to  goodness, 
and  they  have  gravitated  towards  human  souls  who  have 
acquired  similar  qualities  to  their  own*  These  evil 
spirits,  banded  together  in  hell,  are  radiating  evil — they 
cannot  help  it,  it  is  part  of  them  ;  they  have  perverted 
the  goodness  which  they  received,  they  have  become 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


47 

infernal,  they  have  perverted  love  into  hatred,  truth  into 
falsity,  and  use  into  harmfulness* 

Everything  in  nature  corresponds  to  some  spiritual 
truth*  A  miraculous  or  arbitrary  creation  of  things  is 
repugnant  to  the  philosophic  mind*  Every  created  object 
must  be  instinct  with  wisdom*1  Hence  it  follows  that 
there  are  sermons  in  stones,  and  that  trees,  birds — in  fact, 
nature — are  representative  of  internal  and  spiritual  truths* 
In  this  world  all  things  have  their  uses,  and  the  object  of 
all  good  uses  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  regeneration  of  man, 
this  world  being  a  training  ground  or  nursery  for  Heaven* 
Evil  or  noxious  things  emanate  from  hell  and  have  their 
noxious  harmfulnesses,  for  hell  is  ever  striving  to  increase 
and  to  attract  human  souls*  Thus  there  is  a  perpetual 
conflict  in  nature  as  well  as  in  the  human  breast  between 
good  and  evil* 

But  let  us  quote  from  Swedenborg*  In  his  '  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom  '  he  says  : 

Noxious  things  are  produced  on  earth  through  influx  from 
hell,  by  the  same  law  of  permission  whereby  evils  themselves 
flow  in  from  hell  with  men*  *  *  ♦  The  things  that  correspond 
to  evil  uses,  that  is,  to  malign  herbs  and  noxious  animals,  are 
cadaverous,  putrid  ♦  ♦  ♦  and  therefore  in  places  where  these 
things  are  such  herbs  and  such  animalcules  exist  *  *  *  and 
in  the  torrid  zones,  and  like  things  on  a  larger  scale,  serpents, 
basilisks,  crocodiles,  scorpions,  rats  and  so  forth.  *  *  *  Everyone 
knows  that  swamps,  stagnant  ponds,  dung,  fetid  bogs  are  full 
of  such  things  ;  also  that  noxious  insects  fill  the  atmosphere  in 
clouds,  and  noxious  vermin  walk  the  earth  in  armies  and 
consume  herbs  to  the  very  roots*  That  cadaverous  and  putrid 
matters  concord  with  these  noxious  and  useless  animalcules, 
and  that  the  two  orders  of  things  are  homogeneous  is  evident 
from  experience  alone*  This  may  be  manifestly  seen  from 
the  ground  of  the  cause  which  is  that  there  are  similar  fetors 
and  stenches  in  the  hells,  where  such  animalcules  also  appear ; 
and  therefore  those  hells  are  named  accordingly*  *  *  * 

Swedenborg  then  proceeds  to  explain  that  the  evil 
things  in  the  natural  world  have  not  derived  their  origin 

1  We  know  that  the  microscope  has  not  yet  been  invented  that 
could  reveal  the  minute  particles  of  which  the  various  objects  of  nature 
consist. 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


48 

from  the  Lord,  nor  were  they  created  from  the  beginning, 
but  are  from  helh  How  then  did  hell  originate  i 

The  origin  of  evil  [says  Swedenborg]  is  from  the  abuse  of 
the  faculities  proper  to  man,  namely,  rationality  and  liberty. 
Rationality  is  the  faculty  of  understanding  what  is  true  and 
good,  and  consequently  also  what  is  false  and  evil,  liberty  is  the 
faculty  of  doing  these  things  freely.  From  this  rationality  and 
liberty  (the  intellectual  faculty  and  the  voluntary  faculty)  man 
derives  the  power  of  confirming  what  he  pleases,  this  is  evident. 
But  when  man  abuses  these  faculties  implanted  in  him  by  con¬ 
firming  what  is  evil  and  untrue  or  false,  he  automatically 
removes  good  and  truth,  until  he  closes  heaven  against  himself. 
All  the  things  in  which  a  man  confirms  himself  become  part 
of  him,  for  he  acquires  them  and  they  become  his  life,  Man 
inherits  from  his  father,  grandfathers  and  ancestors  the 
hereditary  evils  that  these  have  thus  voluntarily  acquired,  for 
he  derives  his  soul  from  his  father. 

The  story  of  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of  Eden 
is  an  allegory  of  the  regeneration  of  man.  That  Adam 
was  not  the  first  man  on  earth  is  quite  evident  from  the 
fact  that  Cain,  his  eldest  son,  called  himself  a  fugitive 
and  vagabond  in  the  earth,  and  feared  that  anyone  who 
found  him  would  kill  him,  for  which  reason  and  in  order 
to  protect  him,  Jehovah  set  a  mark  upon  him,  whereupon 
Cain  dwelt  in  the  land  of  Nod  and  built  a  city.  Sweden¬ 
borg  has,  indeed,  explained  in  detail  in  his  *  Arcana 
Ccelestia  t  that  by  Adam  and  Eve  are  meant  the  men  of 
the  Most  Ancient  Church ;  the  creation  of  Heaven  and 
earth,  in  the  first  chapter,  is  a  detailed  description  of  their 
regeneration  or  the  awakening  of  spiritual  life  in  man ; 
the  Garden  of  Eden  represents  the  wisdom  and  intelli¬ 
gence  of  that  Church,  the  tree  of  life  was  the  Lord  in 
man,  and  man  in  the  Lord  ;  and  the  tree  of  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,  man  in  his  self-hood ;  the  eating  of  the 
fruit  of  this  tree  means  the  appropriation  of  evil.  Thus 
it  is  evident  that  the  men  of  the  Ancient  Church,  who  in 
the  beginning  of  that  Church  were  the  most  wise,  and  at 
its  end,  by  reason  of  the  pride  of  their  self-derived  intelli¬ 
gence,  the  most  wicked,  were  not  seduced  by  any  serpent, 
but  by  their  own  self-love,  denoted  by  the  head  of  the 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


49 


serpent,  which  is  to  be  bruised  by  the  seed  of  the  woman, 
meaning  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ*1 

As  Swedenborg  points  out : 

Who  cannot  discern  on  the  slightest  glance,  that  Jehovah 
could  never  have  placed  two  trees  in  a  garden,  one  of  which 
might  prove  a  stumbling-block,  unless  they  had  some  spiritual 
representation  i  Or  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  cursed  because 
they  ate  the  fruit  of  a  certain  tree,  and  that  the  curse  adheres 
to  all  their  posterity,  so  that  the  whole  human  race  is  subjected 
to  damnation  for  the  fault  of  one  man,  in  which  fault  there  was 
no  apparent  evil  of  the  lust  of  the  flesh  or  iniquity  of  heart  i 
Does  such  a  proceeding  accord  with  the  Divine  justice  i  May 
it  not  reasonably  be  asked  why  Jehovah  did  not  remove  that 
fruit  out  of  Adam's  reach  before  he  ate  of  it,  and  why  He  did 
not  cast  the  serpent  into  hell  before  it  persuaded  him  to  eat  i 
But  ♦  *  *  those  two  trees,  the  one  of  life  the  other  of  death, 
represent  man's  free  determination  in  spiritual  things. 

The  story  in  Genesis,  if  true  of  the  Most  Ancient, 
was  certainly  prophetic  of  the  Christian  Church. 

In  Genesis  ii.  16-17,  we  read  : 

And  the  Lord  commanded  the  man,  saying,  Of  every  tree 
of  the  garden  thou  mayest  freely  eat :  But  of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the 
day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die. 

It  is  obvious  that  here  something  more  is  meant  than 
meets  the  eye,  and  Swedenborg  interprets  these  words 
as  teaching  that,  while  we  may  endeavour  to  obtain 
knowledge  of  what  is  good  and  true  by  means  of  the 
perceptions  derived  from  the  Lord,  we  are  not  allowed  to 
do  so  from  our  own  self-conceit,  nor  from  the  point  of 
view  of  worldliness,  nor  to  inquire  into  the  mysteries 
of  faith  by  the  senses  or  from  material  science.  A  desire 
to  investigate  the  mysteries  of  faith  by  means  of  the  senses 
and  earthly  knowledge  was  the  cause  of  the  fall,  and 
has  been  the  cause  of  the  fall  of  every  church,  for  such 

1  ‘  The  serpent  is  evil  of  every  kind  :  his  head  is  self-love  ;  the 
seed  of  the  woman  is  the  Lord  :  the  enmity  is  between  man’s  self- 
love  and  the  Lord,  therefore  also  between  man’s  self-derived  prudence 
and  the  Lord’s  Divine  Providence.’ — V.  ‘  Divine  Providence,’  §  21 1. 


5o  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

desire  does  not  only  breed  false  opinions,  but  actual  evils 
of  life* 

The  worldly  and  carnally  minded  man  says  to  himself 
that  if  he  is  not  able  to  understand  questions  of  faith  by 
means  of  the  senses  or  by  means  of  knowledge,  he  will 
not  believe  them,  and  he  confirms  himself  in  his  incre¬ 
dulity  by  arguing  that  natural  things  cannot  be  contrary 
to  spiritual  facts*  Swedenborg  postulates  that  it  is 
impossible  to  be  instructed  in  what  is  celestial  and  divine 
from  what  is  sensual,  and  asserts  that  the  more  a  man 
desires  to  grow  wise  by  such  a  process  the  more  does 
he  blind  himself  until  he  at  length  comes  to  believe 
nothing,  1  not  even  the  reality  of  spiritual  existences,  or  of 
eternal  life/  The  man,  on  the  other  hand,  who  desires 
to  grow  wise,  not  from  conceit  or  for  the  aggrandisement 
of  his  own  intellect,  but  from  a  pious  wish  to  be  led  by 
the  Lord,  starts  with  the  fundamental  idea  that  God  must 
be  believed,  and  that  the  words  of  the  Bible  are  true ; 
he  then  seeks  to  find  support  for  his  belief  in  rational 
considerations  and  scientific  investigations* 

He  who  seeks  to  investigate  merely  the  secrets  of 
nature,  which  are  innumerable,  with  difficulty  discovers  a 
single  one  ;  and,  as  experience  proves,  in  the  course  of 
his  investigation  is  liable  to  fall  into  many  errors*  How 
much  more  likely  then  is  this  to  be  the  case  whilst 
investigating  the  hidden  truths  of  spiritual  and  celestial 
life,  where  myriads  of  mysteries  exist  for  one  that  is  to 
be  found  in  nature  !  For  the  sake  of  illustrating  this 
point,  let  us  take  the  following  instance*  Man  of  himself 
cannot  act  otherwise  than  wickedly  and  avert  himself 
from  the  Lord,  yet  it  is  not  man  who  acts  thus,  but  as 
he  is  incited  by  evil  spirits  who  are  attendant  upon  him ; 
nor  do  the  evil  spirits  so  act  except  from  the  evil  itself 
which  they  have  appropriated  (evil  being  perverted 
good) ;  nevertheless  man  does  evil  and  turns  himself 
away  from  the  Lord,  and  is  in  fault ;  and  yet  he  lives 
only  from  the  Lord*  So,  on  the  other  hand,  man  of 
himself  cannot  possibly  do  good  and  turn  towards  the 
Lord,  but  by  the  ministry  of  angels  ;  neither  can  the 
angels,  except  from  the  Lord  alone;  and  yet  man  may. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


5i 


as  if  from  himself,  do  good  and  turn  to  the  Lord.  Neither 
the  senses,  nor  science,  nor  philosophy  can  conceive  such 
truths  as  these,  and  if  consulted  would  utterly  deny  their 
possibility,  although  in  themselves  most  certain.  And  so 
it  is  in  all  similar  cases.  Those  who  consult  the  senses 
and  science  respecting  what  is  to  be  believed,  not  only 
precipitate  themselves  into  doubt,  but  also  into  denial 
and  thus  into  darkness  and  into  every  concupiscence. 
For  such  persons  as  believe  what  is  false  act  accordingly, 
and  denying  the  existence  of  what  is  spiritual  and  celestial, 
believe  only  what  is  corporeal  and  worldly.  Thus  they 
love  whatever  is  of  themselves  and  the  world,  and  a  false 
sentiment  removing  all  restraint  over  the  inclinations  of 
the  natural  man  gives  rise  to  the  evils  of  life.1 

In  summing  up  his  explanation  of  the  meaning  of 
the  14th  to  the  19th  verses  of  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis, 
Swedenborg  states  very  tersely  : 

All  these  verses  then  taken  in  a  series,  involve  that  the 
sensual  principle  [in  man]  averted  itself  from  the  celestial,  that 
the  Lord  would  come  into  the  world  for  the  purpose  of  re¬ 
uniting  them,  that  combats  took  place  in  consequence  of  the 
external  man  averting  himself  from  the  internal,  whence 
resulted  misery,  condemnation,  and  at  length  hell.  These 
successive  states  were  passed  through  in  that  Church  from  the 
fourth  posterity  to  the  deluge. 

The  third  and  preceding  chapters  of  Genesis  treat  of 
the  most  ancient  people  and  of  their  regeneration,  primarily 
of  those  who  have  lived  like  wild  beasts,  but  at  length 
became  spiritual  men  and  constituted  the  Most  Ancient 
Church  ;  afterwards,  of  those  who  fell  away  and  their 
descendants,  detailed  in  regular  order  through  the  first, 
second,  and  third  posterity  and  their  successors  down  to 
the  deluge.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  hereditary 
evil  existing  to-day  is  derived  from  Adam,  for  by  the  first 
man  the  Most  Ancient  Church  is  meant,  and  when  it  is 
called  Adam  this  means  that  man  was  formed  from  the 
ground,  or  that  by  regeneration  from  the  Lord  he  was  made 


1  ‘  Arcana  Coelestia,’  vol.  i.  p.  79,  §  233. 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


52 

truly  a  man  who  was  not  so  previously*  Hereditary  evil 
is  such  that  everyone  who  commits  actual  sin  from  it 
acquires  to  himself  a  nature  which  transmits  and  implants 
evil  to  his  children,  evil  thus  becoming  hereditary*  Heredi¬ 
tary  evil  is,  however,  dissipated,  and  loses  its  baneful  in¬ 
fluence  in  those  who  allow  themselves  to  be  regenerated 
by  the  Lord* 

Put  in  a  nutshell,  the  origin  of  evil  is  selfishness,  and 
more  especially  conceit,  in  all  their  various  forms*  Selfish¬ 
ness,  according  to  Swedenborg's  philosophy,  manifests 
itself  in  two  distinct  forms,  in  the  love  of  self  and  in  the 
love  of  the  world,  or  in  other  words  in  evil  and  falsity ; 
for  the  love  of  self  is  evil  and  the  love  of  the  world  is 
falsity,  when  these  loves  become  what  Pope  calls  the 
ruling  passion,  the  dominant  love*  The  love  of  self  is, 
however,  more  grievous  than  the  love  of  the  world,  just 
as  falsity  is  less  grievous  than  evil* 

This  position  requires  some  examination,  for  we  have 
seen  that  every  man  must  love  himself — that  is  implanted 
in  his  nature,  it  almost  amounts  to  an  instinct*  As  the 
German  philosopher  Hegel  maintains,  it  is  indispensable 
to  every  man  to  have  a  healthy  egoism  ( ein  gesundes 
Egoismus ),  and  if  it  is  healthy  and  natural  to  be  selfish, 
to  love  oneself,  it  is  equally  healthy  and  natural  to  love 
the  world,  to  enjoy  the  good  things  of  life,  and  to  desire 
to  acquire  wealth  and  power.  Without  these  two  main¬ 
springs  of  action  man  would  lead  a  very  uninteresting  and 
a  far  from  joyous  existence,  and  no  thinking  man  of  modern 
times  at  least  would  be  prepared  to  maintain  that  it  is  the 
Divine  intention  that  people  should  make  themselves 
miserable*  That  is  a  mediaeval  conception  and  contrary 
to  a  belief  in  a  benevolent  Deity* 

It  is  by  our  lowest  instincts  and  desires,  by  our  miser¬ 
able  self-love  and  our  craven  fear  of  future  eternal  punish¬ 
ment,  by  our  ambition,  our  love  of  aggrandisement  and 
our  desire  for  happiness  that  our  salvation  is  made  possible ; 
moreover,  it  seems  fairly  evident  that  if  we  did  not  love 
ourselves  we  could  not  love  anybody  else*  The  mischief 
is  caused  by  the  inversion  or  perversion  of  these  loves*  To 
explain  this  Swedenborg  makes  use  of  a  very  apt  illustra- 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


53 

tion.  In  *  The  Divine  Providence  *  the  following  admirable 
passage  occurs  : 

The  very  delight  of  a  man's  life  is  to  love  himself  and  the 
world  above  all  things  ;  and  this  delight  cannot  be  removed  in 
a  moment,  but  only  successively*  According  to  the  proportion 
of  this  delight  which  remains  in  a  man  is  the  prevalence  of 
evil ;  and  this  evil  can  be  removed  no  otherwise  than  by  making 
the  love  of  self  to  become  the  love  of  uses  (or  of  being  of  use) 
and  admitting  the  love  of  rule,  not  for  the  sake  of  self,  but  for 
the  sake  of  being  useful ;  for  so  uses  constitute  the  head,  the 
love  of  self  or  the  love  of  rule  at  first  constituting  the  body  under 
the  head,  and  afterwards  the  feet  upon  which  he  walks.  Who 
does  not  see  that  goodness  constitutes  the  head,  and  that  when 
it  constitutes  the  head,  the  Lord  is  there,  goodness  and  use 
being  one  i  Who  does  not  see,  that  if  evil  constitutes  the 
head,  the  devil  is  there ;  and  that,  as  civil  and  moral  good, 
and  also  spiritual  good  in  its  external  form,  are  nevertheless 
to  be  received,  these  then  constitute  the  feet  and  the  soles 
of  the  feet  and  are  trampled  upon  i  Since,  therefore,  the  state 
of  a  man's  life  is  to  be  inverted,  so  that  what  is  above  may  be 
placed  below,  and  this  conversion  cannot  be  effected  in  a 
moment ;  .  .  ♦  goodness  cannot  be  introduced  by  the  Lord 
before  evil  is  removed,  or  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  the  rate  of 
this  removal. 

To  thoughtful  minds  it  now  seems  hardly  necessary 
to  explain  what  hell  is,  for  it  is  obvious  that  hell  is  the 
inversion  of  order,  the  perversion  of  goodness  to  evil, 
and  of  truth  to  falsity.  We  shall  presently  see  that  hell 
is  composed  of  those  members  of  the  human  race  who 
could  not  be  happy  in  Heaven,  because  they  wilfully  pre¬ 
ferred  evil  to  good  and  resisted  the  constant  efforts  of  the 
Divine  Providence  to  lead  them  towards  a  better  state. 
In  other  words  they  confirmed  themselves  in  their  love 
of  themselves  and  their  hatred  of  God  and  duty,  and  would 
not  be  regenerated. 

Herbert  Spencer  has  shown  that  every  human  society 
is  an  organism ;  in  this  he  was  but  copying  Swedenborg, 
who  shows  that  every  society,  every  nation,  forms  a  one, 
and  that  Heaven  is  thus  a  grand  man,  constantly  growing 
and  increasing :  hell  is  consequently  a  grand  monster, 
and  by  the  devil  this  monster,  which  is  hell,  is  all  that  is 


54 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


meant*  We  shall  come  to  speak  more  fully  of  the  future 
state  later  on ;  for  the  present  it  is  sufficient  to  explain  that 
the  origin  of  evil  being  self-love,  the  men  and  women, 
whether  of  this  planet  or  from  others,  who  have  adopted 
that  love  as  their  ruling  passion,  cannot  be  happy  in  Heaven, 
but  in  after  life,  being  attracted  to  each  other,  coalesce 
in  a  place  which  is  really  a  state  of  mind,  which  we  call 
hell,  from  whence  they  are  constantly  endeavouring  to 
influence  the  external  or  material  plane  of  existence,  which 
we  call  nature,  and  to  infest,  pervert,  and  ultimately 
destroy  the  world* 

As  everything  in  nature  is  in  correspondence  with  the 
spiritual,  and  indeed  representative  of  spiritual  truths,  it 
follows  that  conditions  may  and  do  arise  in  nature  favour¬ 
able  to  the  influences  of  hell,  and  that  whenever  possible 
the  evil  spirits  in  hell  try  to  pour  out  their  baneful  influence 
— radiations  of  evil,  as  it  were — on  the  natural  world,  and 
these  efforts  are  facilitated  by  the  actual  attitude  of  the 
human  beings  alive  in  the  world  at  the  time* 

Thus  there  is  a  constant  movement,  a  struggle*  Man  as 
we  have  seen  is  raised  to  such  heights  of  goodness  and 
wisdom  that  he  begins  to  think  that  this  goodness  is 
inherent  in  him,  he  begins  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  then,  by  regarding  himself 
as  divine,  closes  the  door  to  Divine  influx  and  exposes  him¬ 
self  to  the  seduction  of  the  serpent,  i*e*  to  evil  of  every  kind, 
because  he  has  wilfully  shut  out  the  love  of  God*  And 
then  the  process  of  regeneration  recommences*  It  is 
described  in  the  Bible  spiritually ;  let  us  see  how  it  is 
described  historically  by  a  man  whom  no  one  would  accuse 
of  mysticism  or  leanings  towards  spirituality* 

Let  us  take  H*  Taine's  famous  '  History  of  English 
Literature/  in  the  introduction  to  which  he  classes  religion 
with  the  great  creations  of  the  mind,  and  describes  it  as 
a  kind  of  poem  held  to  be  true*  In  the  first  book,  entitled 
'Les  Origines/  he  describes  *  Les  Saxons  *  in  Chapter  L, 
the  blond  beast,  and  shows  us  what  brutes  they  were,  how 
they  lived  to  kill,  and  how  they  scorned  the  gentle  arts* 

4  When  murder/  he  says,  4  has  become  a  trade  it  becomes 
a  pleasure/ 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  EVIL 


55 

See  them  now  in  England  [he  continues]  more  sedentary 
and  wealthy :  do  you  think  they  have  greatly  changed  i 
Changed  perhaps,  but  for  the  worse,  like  the  Franks,  as  all 
barbarians  who  pass  from  action  to  indulgence*  .  ♦  ♦  Up  to 
the  1 6th  century  the  body  of  the  nation,  says  an  old  historian, 
consisted  only  of  herdsmen,  of  men  who  minded  animals  for 
food  and  wool ;  up  to  the  end  of  the  18th,  drunkenness  was  the 
diversion  of  the  upper  class  ;  it  is  still  that  of  the  lower,  and  all 
the  refinements  of  the  delicacies  and  humanity  of  to-day  have 
not  abolished  with  them  the  use  of  the  rod  or  the  fist* 

He  admits,  however,  that  under  this  native  barbarism 
there  lurked  noble  tendencies,  and  then  proceeds  to  give 
a  most  interesting  and  popular  account  of  Saxon  myth¬ 
ology,  which  to  the  student  of  the  science  of  correspond¬ 
ences  is  so  full  of  lofty  spiritual  teaching.  He  then  shows 
how  this  gross,  fierce  and  brutal  race  gradually  developed 
and  grew*  It  is  again  like  the  grain  of  mustard  seed* 
England  has  grown  into  a  tree  in  the  branches  of  which 
all  the  birds  of  the  air  can  find  shelter* 

In  the  history  of  our  race  we  can  study  the  processes 
of  the  regeneration  of  man,  we  can  trace  the  evolution  of 
our  virtues  and  great  position*  We  have,  indeed,  attained 
a  place  in  the  world  unrivalled  in  history*  Let  us  beware 
lest  we  lose  it*  If  we  wish  to  see  how  an  empire  can 
degenerate,  we  need  but  study  the  history  of  Rome,  or 
even  that  of  Prussia*1 

Perhaps  the  best  illustration  of  the  origin  of  evil  is  to 
be  taken  from  nature.  The  source  of  the  light  and  the 
happiness  of  the  earth  is  the  sun*  We  think  the  sun 
sets  and  turns  itself  from  us,  but  what  really  happens  is 
that  the  earth  turns  itself  away  from  the  sun*  The  earth 
would  fall  into  space  if  it  were  not  being  continually 
pulled  towards  itself  by  the  sun*  The  sun  is  constantly 
drawing  the  earth  towards  itself,  the  earth  is  for  ever 
turning  itself  away* 

To  sum  up  this  chapter  on  the  origin  of  evil,  we  may 
crystallise  Swedenborg's  teaching  in  a  syllogism*  All  evil 
emanates  from  hell,  hell  is  peopled  by  the  human  race, 
who  chose  self-love  in  preference  to  the  love  of  God— 

1  Shakespeare  truly  said  that  ‘  the  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them.’ 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


56 

hence  all  evil  has  its  origin  in  self-love*  That  man  could 
not  be  saved  unless  he  loved  himself  has  been  shown* 
It  is  by  making  the  love  of  self  and  the  love  of  the  world 
the  dominant  loves,  that  man  turns  his  face  from  God 
and  inclines  towards  hell.  It  is  by  reversing  the  order 
of  his  affections  that  he  prepares  his  own  downfall*  The 
orderly  state  of  mind  is  to  place  the  love  of  God  first,  the 
love  of  the  neighbour  second,  and  the  love  of  self  last ; 
for  our  Lord  has  Himself  told  us  that  there  are  really 
only  two  great  commandments  : 

Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind*  This  is  the  first  and  great 
commandment.  And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself*  On  these  two  commandments 
hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets*  (Matthew  xxiii.  37-40.) 


CHAPTER  III 
Ethics 

All  Christian  ethics  are  based  on  the  Ten  Commandments, 
but  as  stated  in  the  Gospels,  the  Ten  Commandments  are 
reducible  to  two*  In  the  previous  chapter  these  two 
commandments  are  cited,  Swedenborg  explains  this 
division  by  showing  that  the  Decalogue  contains  in  its 
first  table  a  summary  of  all  things  relating  to  the  love  of 
God,  and  in  its  second  a  summary  of  all  things  relating 
to  love  of  the  neighbour.  Here  it  may  be  as  well  to  show 
how  Swedenborg  interprets  the  loving  of  our  neighbour. 

Those  [he  says]  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  meaning 
of  the  word  neighbour  in  its  genuine  sense  are  apt  to  imagine 
that  it  is  only  applicable  to  a  man  as  an  individual,  and  that 
love  towards  our  neighbour  consists  in  doing  acts  of  bene¬ 
ficence  towards  individuals  ;  but  there  is  a  more  extensive 
signification  of  the  term  neighbour,  and  the  love  of  our  neigh¬ 
bour  is  much  more  widely  extended,  being  exalted  in  proportion 
to  the  greater  number  of  men  towards  whom  it  is  exercised. 
Who  cannot  understand  that  to  love  a  body  of  men,  consisting 
of  many  individuals,  is  a  greater  instance  of  love  towards  our 
neighbour,  than  to  love  a  single  individual  of  that  body  i 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  how  the  performance  of 
our  duty  in  life  and  the  love  of  church  and  country  come 
within  the  scope  of  the  love  of  the  neighbour.  However, 
we  must  discriminate ;  we  are  not  enjoined  to  love  evil, 
hence  it  follows  that  what  we  should  love  is  not  the 
person  or  the  aggregation  of  persons,  but  the  good  which 
is  in  them,  from  whence  it  follows  that  good  is  the  real 
neighbour  we  should  love. 


58 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


But  the  neighbour  to  be  loved  in  the  highest  degree 
is  the  Lord's  Kingdom,  and  he  who  loves  the  Lord's 
Kingdom  loves  all  those  throughout  the  whole  world  who 
acknowledge  the  Lord  and  live  in  faith  towards  Him  and 
in  charity,  as  well  as  all  the  denizens  of  Heaven* 

Those  who  love  the  Lord's  Kingdom  love  the  Lord  above  all 
things,  and  are  thus  influenced  more  than  others  by  love  to  God  ; 
for  the  church  in  Heaven  and  throughout  the  earth  is  the  Lord's 
body ;  the  members  thereof  being  in  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord 
in  them.  Love  therefore  towards  the  Lord's  Kingdom  is  love 
towards  our  neighbour  in  all  its  fulness ;  for  those  who  love 
His  Kingdom  not  only  love  the  Lord  above  all  things,  but  also 
love  their  neighbour  as  themselves  ;  for  love  towards  the  Lord 
is  an  universal  love,  and  is  consequently  in  all  and  everything 
that  belongs  to  spiritual  life,  as  well  as  in  all  and  everything 
that  belongs  to  natural  life ;  for  that  love  has  its  residence  in 
man's  supreme  or  highest  principles,  and  the  highest  descend 
by  influx  into  the  lower,  communicating  life  to  them,  just  as  the 
will  enters  into  the  whole  of  the  intention,  and  thence  descends 
into  action,  and  as  the  understanding  enters  into  the  whole  of 
the  thought,  and  thence  into  the  speech ;  therefore  the  Lord 
says  *  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteousness, 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  (Matthew  vi.  33.)1 

Indeed  a  little  reflection  will  show  that  this  is  logically 
inevitable.  If  we  love  God  we  should  love  His  works. 
We  shall  presently  see  that  conduct  is  organic,  and  that 
the  Decalogue  is  far  from  being  a  hard  and  arbitrary  code 
of  laws  despotically  framed  by  a  capricious  and  exacting 
task-master,  but  rather  the  laws  of  spiritual  hygiene,  by 
the  observance  of  which  we  promote  the  organic  building 
up  of  our  soul  and  keep  it  sane  and  immune  from  evil ; 
for  evil  is  insane,  it  is  a  disease  and  unfits  us  for  Heaven. 

We  know  that  if  we  observe  certain  physical  laws  and 
keep  our  body  fit,  we  are  less  prone  to  disease  than  if  we 
live  insanitary  and  self-indulgent  lives  ;  if  we  eat  too 
much,  drink  too  much,  are  slothful  and  indolent,  and  do 
not  keep  ourselves  clean  we  get  indisposed,  our  system 
becomes  clogged,  we  lose  our  energy  and  health.  As  the 
human  body  is,  after  all,  only  an  external  image  of  the 

1  ‘  The  True  Christian  Religion/  §  416. 


ETHICS 


59 


soul,  it  follows  that  the  soul  must  be  governed  by  spiritual 
laws  of  hygiene,  just  as  the  body  is  governed  by  physical 
rules  of  health,  disobedience  to  which  brings  about,  not 
punishment,  but  certain  inevitable  deleterious  conse¬ 
quences*  If  we  defied  the  laws  of  gravitation,  for  instance, 
the  consequences  could  not  be  justly  described  as  a 
vindictive  punishment,  but  only  as  the  inevitable  logical 
result. 

Swedenborg  tells  us  ('  Arcana  Ccelestia/  §  8862)  that 
the  Ten  Commandments  are  Truths  Divine  both  for 
those  in  Heaven  and  for  those  on  earth.  In  his  *  True 
Christian  Religion  *  a  chapter  is  devoted  to  an  explana¬ 
tion  of  the  external  and  internal  sense  of  the  Decalogue. 
He  begins  by  pointing  out  that  there  is  no  nation  through¬ 
out  the  world  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  murder, 
adultery,  theft,  and  the  bearing  of  false  witness  are  wrong, 
and  that  no  state  of  society  would  be  possible  without 
laws  against  the  commission  of  such  evils ;  nor  does  it 
seem  credible  that  the  people  of  Israel  were  so  stupid 
as  to  be  ignorant  of  this.  Nevertheless,  the  Ten  Com¬ 
mandments  were  miraculously  promulgated  from  Mount 
Sinai  by  Jehovah  as  a  token  that  they  were  not  only  the 
laws  of  civil  and  moral  conduct,  but  Divine  laws  as  well, 
and  that  to  contravene  them  was  not  only  to  act  against 
our  fellow-citizens  and  society,  but  to  sin  against  God. 
After  emphasising  the  holiness  of  the  Ten  Command¬ 
ments,  he  proceeds  to  explain  them.  He  first,  however, 
states  that 

the  cause  why  the  law  was  so  full  of  holiness  and  power  was 
because  it  contained  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  religion  ;  for 
it  was  written  on  two  tables,  one  of  which  contained  the  sum 
and  substance  of  all  duties  relating  to  God,  and  the  other  the 
sum  and  substance  of  all  duties  relating  to  man. 

The  first  commandment,  *  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me/  while  in  the  first  place  prohibiting  the 
worship  of  idols,  and  consequently  also  the  worship  of 
men,  whether  dead  or  alive,  signifies  further  that  no  one 
except  God,  and  nothing  except  what  proceeds  from 
God,  is  to  be  loved  with  the  chief  and  governing  love 


6o 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


described  in  Matthew  xxii.  and  Luke  x.  For  instance, 
when  a  man's  main  affections  are  centred  on  himself  or 
the  world  these  are  his  god,  nor  does  he  in  his  heart 
acknowledge  any  other,  he  therefore  conjoins  or  unites 
himself  with  helL  The  spiritual  meaning  of  this  com¬ 
mandment  is  that  no  other  God  is  to  be  worshipped  than 
the  Lord,  who,  as  we  shall  presently  explain,  is  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  for  He  is  Jehovah,  who  came  into  the  world 
and  accomplished  the  work  of  redemption.  The  celestial 
meaning  of  this,  the  first  and  fundamental  law  of  the 
Decalogue,  is  that  Jehovah,  the  Lord,  is  infinite,  immeasur¬ 
able,  and  eternal ;  that  He  is  omnipotent,  omniscient,  and 
omnipresent ;  that  He  is  the  first  and  the  last,  the  begin¬ 
ning  and  the  end,  *  who  was  and  who  is  and  who  is  to 
come,  the  Almighty  ! '  that  He  is  essential  love,  wisdom, 
good,  and  truth,  consequently  life  itself,  and  thus  the 
only  Being  from  Whom  all  things  are.  But  He  is  also 
described  as  a  *  zealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  of  them  that  hate  me ;  and  showing  mercy 
unto  thousands  (of  generations)  of  them  that  love  me 
and  keep  my  commandments/  What  is  meant  by  a 
zealous  God  i  It  means  a  God  as  He  appears  to  those 
who  do  not  love  Him,  but  prefer  evil  to  good ;  in  their 
eyes  the  Divine  Truth  is  falsehood,  and  Divine  Good 
evil.  Hence  the  Lord's  zeal,  which  is  inherently  love 
and  pity,  appears  to  them  as  anger.  *  Visiting  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  on  the  children  '  does  not  mean  that  chil¬ 
dren  are  punished  for  the  iniquity  of  their  fathers,  but 
that  the  evil  which  the  fathers  assimilate  is  prolific  and 
inherited  by  the  children ;  but  in  the  spiritual  sense  fathers 
here  mean  evils  and  sons  (children)  falsities :  thus  is 
conveyed  the  lesson  that  falsity  is  being  continually 
propagated  from  evil.  *  And  doing  mercy  to  thousands,' 
on  the  other  hand,  means  everlasting  goodness  and  truth 
for  those  who  love  God,  who  receive  the  good  of  love ; 
for  those  who  love  the  Lord  do  not  do  so  of  themselves, 
but  from  Him  ;  for  those  love  the  Lord  who  refrain  from 
evil,  whereby  they  facilitate  the  influx  of  good  from  the 
Lord,  which  is  continually  present  from  the  Lord  and 


ETHICS  61 

striving  to  enter  the  human  soul,  but  is  kept  out  when 
the  human  will  is  evil  and  prefers  evil  to  good. 

The  command  forbidding  the  taking  of  the  name  of 
God  in  vain  is,  of  course,  on  the  face  of  it  an  injunction 
to  refrain  from  swearing  and  from  the  abuse  of  the  name 
of  God  in  common  discourse,  but  should  not  be  inter¬ 
preted  as  prohibiting  its  use  in  oaths  of  office  or  allegiance. 
That  the  name  of  Jehovah,  God,  is  holy  appears  from  the 
fact  that  the  Jews  never  dared  to  use  it ;  and  the  name 
of  Jesus  is  likewise  holy,  for  are  we  not  told  that  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  shall  bow  i  But  the  name  of 
God  also  means  all  the  Church  teaches  from  the  Bible, 
and  all  by  which  He  is  invoked  and  worshipped.  The 
name  *  Jesus  Christ  '  signifies  the  all  of  redemption  and 
doctrine,  and  consequently  the  all  of  salvation.  To  take 
this  in  vain  is  to  be  a  hypocrite, 

Swedenborg,  in  commenting  on  this  commandment, 
points  out  that  even  in  this  world  the  term  *  name  '  does 
not  merely  mean  an  appellation,  but  includes  the  quality 
and  nature  of  the  person  described.  It  is  common  form 
to  say  that  a  man  acts  in  a  particular  manner  *  for  the 
sake  of  his  name/  or  *  to  acquire  a  good  name/  people 
are  spoken  of  as  having  a  great  name,  and  it  is  a  general 
law  in  all  nations  that  nobody's  name  may  be  abused 
with  impunity,  for  thereby  his  reputation  and  character 
are  reflected  on. 

The  commandment  enjoining  the  keeping  holy  of  the 
Sabbath  provides  for  six  days  to  be  devoted  to  man  and 
his  labour,  whilst  the  seventh  is  reserved  for  the  Lord 
and  for  man's  rest  in  dependence  on  Him,  The  Sabbath 
represented  the  Lord  to  the  Israelites,  the  six  days 
symbolising  His  labours  and  conflicts  with  the  hells,  and 
the  seventh  His  victory  and  rest.  When  the  Lord  came 
into  the  world,  however,  that  day  was  made  a  day  of 
instruction  in  divine  subjects,  a  day  of  rest  from  work 
and  of  meditation  on  salvation  and  life  eternal,  and  also 
a  day  for  the  exercise  of  love  towards  our  neighbour. 
This  commandment  is,  moreover,  emblematic  of  man's 
regeneration  by  the  Lord,  six  days  of  labour  signifying 
man's  combats  against  the  various  evils  and  falsities 


62 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


which  must  be  resisted  and  overcome,  and  the  seventh 
his  regeneration.  Finally,  the  commandment  may  be 
regarded  as  a  promise  of  peace  and  rest  and  protection 
from  hell  after  conjunction  with  the  Lord — in  other 
words,  of  that  state  of  happiness  which  prevails  in  Heaven. 

By  being  commanded  to  honour  our  father  and  mother, 
we  are  not  only  enjoined  to  obey  our  parents,  but 
to  behave  loyally  to  the  constituted  authorities,  and  to 
love  our  country.  Spiritually  the  honouring  of  father 
and  mother  means  the  reverence  and  love  of  God  and 
the  Church.  In  connection  with  this  commandment, 
Swedenborg  says  : 

It  is  a  great  truth  which  should  never  be  forgotten  that  there 
is  continually  proceeding  from  the  Lord  a  divine  sphere  of 
celestial  love  towards  all  those  who  embrace  the  doctrine  of  His 
church  and  who  .  .  .  desire  to  be  instructed  by  Him.  From 
this  celestial  sphere  originates  a  natural  sphere,  which  is  that  of 
love  towards  infants  and  children  .  .  .  affecting  not  only  men 
but  likewise  birds  and  beasts  ♦  .  .  and  not  only  animate  but 
inanimate  things.  For  the  purpose  however  of  operating  on 
the  inanimate  parts  of  creation,  as  He  operates  on  the  spiritual 
parts,  the  Lord  formed  the  sun  to  be  in  the  natural  world  as  a 
father,  while  the  earth  supplies  the  place  of  a  mother  ;  for  the 
sun  is  like  a  common  father  and  the  earth  like  a  common  mother, 
from  whose  marriage  union  all  the  vegetables  which  adorn  the 
face  of  the  globe  are  brought  forth  into  being. 

The  injunction  not  to  commit  murder  refers,  of  course, 
primarily  to  the  taking  of  another  person's  life ;  it  also  in¬ 
volves  a  prohibition  to  inflict  any  fatal  blow  or  wound  or 
even  to  maim  or  mutilate;  moreover,  it  goes  further  and 
implies  that  no  injury  to  the  good  name  or  character  of 
another  is  permissible.  Speaking  generally,  murders 
signify  enmity,  hatred,  and  revenge,  hence  these  are  also 
forbidden  by  this  commandment. 

Spiritual  murder  consists  in  the  killing  and  destruction 
of  souls,  undermining  religion,  and  inciting  to  evil  deeds 
and  false  ideas. 

In  the  celestial  sense  murder  signifies  resentment 
against  the  Lord,  hatred  of  Him,  and  a  desire  to  blot  out 
His  name,  for  thereby  we  crucify  Him  again. 


ETHICS 


63 

The  commandment  not  to  commit  adultery  does  not 
only  bear  a  technical  meaning,  but  includes  a  prohibition 
to  cherish  lustful  desires  and  indulge  in  wanton  thoughts, 
words,  and  acts :  it  is  an  injunction  against  self-indulgence 
generally* 

Spiritually  adulteries  mean  the  adulteration  of  the 
goods  in  the  Bible  and  the  falsification  of  its  truths*  To 
deny  the  holiness  of  the  Bible,  and  to  profane  it,  is  to 
commit  celestial  adultery,  and  this  is  committed  by  those 
who,  moreover,  make  a  mockery  in  their  hearts  of  all 
things  relating  to  the  Church  and  religion* 

Swedenborg  insists  that  abstinence  from  act  does  not 
constitute  chastity,  which  should  be  deliberate  where  the 
act  is  possible*  To  abstain  because  indulgence  is  regarded 
as  sinful  is  true  chastity*  Abstention  through  fear  of  the 
law  and  its  penalties,  through  fear  of  suffering  in  honour  or 
reputation,  through  fear  of  disease,  or  for  other  prudential 
reasons,  or  even  from  a  principle  of  obedience  to  natural 
or  civil  laws,  does  not  mean  chastity;  on  the  contrary, 
persons  animated  by  such  motives  will  be  found  in 
the  future  life  to  be  actually  in  favour  of  adultery  and 
whoredom. 

The  commandment  making  theft  a  sin  has  been  de¬ 
scribed  by  Communists  as  a  bourgeois  invention,  but  while 
it  certainly  sanctifies  the  rights  of  property  it  goes  much 
further,  and  even  Communists  will  join  in  condemning 
fraud  and  deceit  of  every  kind. 

Those  who  teach  false  doctrine,  and  yet  read  the  Bible, 
and  those  who  confirm  false  religion  by  fallacies  are  guilty 
of  spiritual  theft,  whilst  in  the  celestial  sense  those  are 
thieves  who  would  deprive  the  Lord  of  His  power  and 
ascribe  His  merit  and  righteousness  to  themselves.  Such 
persons,  in  spite  of  their  protestations,  do  not  trust  God 
at  all,  but  only  themselves,  and  in  fact  believe  only  in  their 
own  self-hood  and  in  nothing  else. 

To  bear  false  witness  is  literally  a  purely  legal  crime, 
but  its  prohibition  extends  to  lying  generally,  to  all  forms 
of  hypocrisy,  and  to  the  defamation  of  the  character  of 
others.  In  the  spiritual  sense,  to  bear  false  witness  is  to 
propagate  false  doctrine  and  to  persuade  others  that  what 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


64 

is  false  is  true,  and  that  what  is  evil  is  good*  But  of  course 
no  guilt  is  ascribed  to  those  who  thus  err  from  ignorance 
and  conviction  and  are  ignorant  of  the  true  nature  of  good¬ 
ness  and  truth*  For  as  our  Lord  said :  *  If  ye  were  blind, 
ye  would  have  no  sin  ;  but  now  ye  say.  We  see;  therefore 
your  sin  remaineth*' 

In  the  celestial  sense,  to  bear  false  witness  means  to 
blaspheme  the  Lord  and  the  Word,  and  thus  to  expel 
truth  from  the  Church* 

Those  who  speak  falsely  from  deceit  or  with  purpose  in 
a  tone  of  voice  that  seems  to  proceed  from  spiritual  affec¬ 
tion,  and  especially  those  who  intermix  their  heresies  with 
truths  from  the  Word,  which  thus  become  falsified,  were 
called  enchanters  by  the  ancients ;  they  were  also  called 
serpents  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  and  are 
described  in  the  Word  as  leopards* 

The  prohibition  of  covetousness  relates  to  all  the  pre¬ 
ceding  commandments,  and  teaches  that  it  is  not  sufficient 
to  refrain  from  doing  evil  but  that  the  lusting  after  evil  is 
also  deleterious  to  the  soul,  for  this  constitutes  an  act  of 
volition  :  *  Whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  after 
her,  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart*' 
It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  the  danger  of  encoura¬ 
ging  evil  thoughts ;  these  obviously  tend  to  undermine  the 
spiritual  health  and  vigour  of  the  soul*  Besides,  the 
moment  restraint  is  removed  the  cherished  lusts  of  the 
human  heart  will  find  expression  in  outward  acts,  and 
consequently  the  human  soul  becomes,  as  it  were,  diseased 
or  insane,  and  would  find  Heaven  torture*  In  proportion 
as  a  human  being  indulges  in  lust  he  becomes  a  brute  and 
a  wild  beast,  but  in  proportion  as  a  human  being  delights 
in  spiritual  desires  he  becomes  a  man  and  an  angel* 

To  covet  is  to  love  self  and  the  world,  hence  to  desire 
from  a  love  of  evil*  All  covetousness  arises  from  some 
love,  for  nothing  is  coveted  unless  it  is  loved ;  and  what  an 
evil  love  yearns  for  is  evil,  but  the  yearnings  of  a  good  love 
are  called  desires*  Whatever  a  human  being  loves  he  wills  ; 
but  covetousness  belongs  both  to  the  will  and  the  under¬ 
standing*  It  is  generally  believed  that  thought  is  the 
human  being ;  there  are,  however,  two  constituents  of  a 


ETHICS 


65 

human  being's  life — the  understanding  and  the  will ;  to 
the  first  belongs  the  thought,  to  the  second  the  affection* 
Thought  alone  does  not  constitute  anything  of  life,  but 
thought  from  affection,  thus  the  understanding  from  the 
will*  A  human  being  is  able  to  perceive  that  what  it  wills 
is  evil  or  good,  and  that  what  it  does  not  will  may  be  good* 
It  is  therefore  clear  that  the  will  is  what  gives  character, 
and  not  the  thought,  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  imparted  by 
the  will*  The  things  which  enter  the  thought,  and  not 
through  it  into  the  will,  do  not  defile ;  but  those  which  enter 
through  the  thought  into  the  will  do*  (See  Matthew  xv* 

n,  17-19-) 

From  these  considerations  it  becomes  evident  that  the 
prohibition  against  coveteousness  implies  that  heed  should 
be  taken  lest  evil  thoughts  are  assimilated  by  the  will  and 
are  thus  given  effect  to  and  corrupt  the  soul*  A  human 
being  is  of  the  quality  of  his  will  and  remains  the  same  after 
death,  for  death  is  but  a  continuation  of  life* 

The  prohibition  especially  refers  to  the  home,  the  wife, 
the  man-servant  and  maid-servant,  the  ox  and  the  ass  of 
the  neighbour  as  things  not  to  be  coveted*  These  denote 
all  the  goods  and  truths  of  faith  in  the  aggregate,  of  which 
nobody  should  be  deprived,  and  which  must  not  be  in¬ 
jured*  A  house  means  all  good  in  general ;  a  wife,  all  truth 
in  general ;  a  man-servant,  the  affection  for  spiritual  truth ; 
a  maid-servant,  the  affection  for  spiritual  good ;  an  ox,  the 
affection  for  natural  good;  and  an  ass,  the  affection  for 
natural  truth* 

There  is  no  direct  injunction  of  the  duties  of  love  and 
charity  in  the  Decalogue,  but  only  a  prohibition  of  evils* 
Summed  up  briefly,  the  commandments  amount  to  this  : 

Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  but  me  ;  thou  shalt  not  take 
the  name  of  God  in  vain  ;  thou  shalt  do  no  murder ;  thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery  ;  thou  shalt  not  steal ;  thou  shalt  not  bear 
false  witness ;  thou  shalt  not  covet  what  is  thy  neighbour's* 

The  fact  is  that  in  proportion  as  a  human  being  shuns 
evils  as  sins,  the  will  is  influenced  by  love  and  charity*  The 
first  principle  of  love  to  God  and  of  love  towards  our 
neighbour  is  to  do  no  evil,  and  the  second  is  to  do  good* 


66 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


While  the  love  of  willing  and  doing  good  is  heavenly,  its 
opposite,  the  love  of  willing  and  doing  evil,  is  infernah 
As  we  are  born  hereditarily  into  evils  of  every  kind,  we 
cannot  be  admitted  into  Heaven  unless,  as  our  Lord  says, 
we  are  born  again  or  regenerated,  and  this  is  effected  by 
Him  in  proportion  as  we  strive  to  keep  His  commandments 
and  abstain  from  doing  evih 

All  evil  is  from  hell,  and  all  good  from  Heaven,  and  as  evil 
is  removed  and  we  turn  from  hell,  Heaven  is  approached* 
Thus,  so  far  as  a  person  does  not  worship  other  gods, 
among  which  nature  is  included,  he  worships  the  true  God ; 
so  far  as  he  does  not  take  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  he  loves 
whatever  is  from  God  ;  so  far  as  he  is  unwilling  to  commit 
murder  or  to  indulge  in  hatred  and  revenge,  he  bears  good 
will  to  his  neighbour  ;  so  far  as  he  does  not  wish  to  commit 
adultery  he  desires  to  live  in  chastity  with  his  married 
partner ;  so  far  as  he  does  not  wish  to  steal,  he  lives  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  law  of  sincerity  ;  so  far  as  he  does  not  wish 
to  bear  false  witness,  he  desires  to  be  truthful ;  so  far  as  he 
does  not  envy  others,  he  wishes  them  to  be  happy  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  possessions* 

Thus  it  clearly  follows  that  the  Decalogue  contains  all 
things  relating  to  the  love  of  God  and  to  the  love  of  the 
neighbour* 

Swedenborg  adds  two  canons : 

i*  No  one  can  shun  evils  as  sins,  and  do  good  which 
may  be  good  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  himself ;  but  so  far  as 
anyone  shuns  evils  as  sins,  he  does  what  is  good,  not  of 
himself,  but  from  the  Lord* 

2*  A  man  ought  to  shun  evils  as  sins,  and  to  fight 
against  them  as  of  himself ;  and  if  he  shuns  evils  from  any 
other  motive  than  because  they  are  sins,  he  does  not  shun 
them,  but  only  prevents  them  from  appearing  in  the  sight 
of  the  world*  Human  beings  should  purify  themselves 
from  evils  and  not  wait  for  the  Lord  to  purify  them  by  an 
immediate  act  of  power* 

Evil  and  good,  says  Swedenborg,  cannot  abide  together, 
and,  in  proportion  as  evil  is  removed,  good  is  regarded  and 
felt,  because  in  the  spiritual  world  there  is  exhaled  from 
every  individual  the  sphere  of  his  or  her  particular  love 


ETHICS 


67 

which  diffuses  itself  and  radiates  its  influence  all  round, 
producing  sympathies  and  antipathies  ;  and  it  is  by  means 
of  such  spheres  that  the  good  are  separated  from  the  evil* 

The  keeping  of  the  commandments  is  thus  analogous 
to  the  observation  of  the  laws  of  hygiene*  Just  as  the 
body  in  order  to  be  in  health  must  be  kept  clean  both 
inwardly  and  outwardly  so  must  the  soul  be  kept  pure  by 
the  abstention  from  evil  conduct  and  evil  thoughts* 

This  world  is  a  training  ground  in  which  our  souls  are 
prepared  for  their  future  immortal  life,  and  if  during  our 
life  here  we  acquire  tendencies  and  dispositions  which 
unfit  us  for  Heaven  we  would  be  miserable  there,  indeed 
we  would  be  unable  to  live  in  heavenly  surroundings,  and 
we  should  detest  the  society  of  the  denizens  of  Heaven* 
This  is  so  obvious  that  it  needs  no  elaboration*  The 
Divine  intention  is  that  everybody  should  be  saved,  but 
this  cannot  be  effected  by  a  miracle*  The  regeneration  of 
the  human  soul  is  an  organic  process,  virtually  unconscious, 
like  the  building  up  of  the  body  by  suitable  food*  But  the 
body  must  be  purged  from  impurities,  and  so  must  the 
soul*  Unless  we  exercise  our  volition  and  deliberately 
determine  to  eschew  evil  and  keep  the  commandments  we 
cannot  be  prepared  for  salvation*  The  case  is  the  same 
with  the  body,  unless  this  is  kept  sweet  and  clean  our  blood 
becomes  impure,  and  our  food  instead  of  nourishing  us  is 
turned  to  poison* 

It  has  been  argued  that  the  commandments  are  so 
hard  to  keep,  and  that  we  are  by  nature  so  prone  to  sin,  that 
it  is  hopeless  to  make  the  attempt,  and  that  our  only  chance 
of  salvation  is  by  some  miraculous  act  of  faith*  If  we 
believe  in  the  atonement  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that 
faith  will  make  us  whole,  and  through  that  faith  we  shall  be 
protected  from  evil*  This  is  an  idea  which,  as  we  shall 
see  when  we  come  to  deal  with  this  branch  of  our  sub¬ 
ject,  has  arisen  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  writings  of 
the  apostles,  more  especially  St*  Paul,  and  is  really  an 
illogical  and  unphilosophical  conception  of  the  ways  of 
God  with  man* 

But  it  is  not  true  that  the  commandments  set  up  a 
standard  of  conduct  too  high  for  human  nature  to  attain* 


68 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


On  the  contrary  it  is  universally  recognised  that  no  society 
could  exist  in  which  the  laws  of  social  morality  were  not 
accepted  as  binding*  To  murder,  steal,  and  give  full  rein 
to  our  passions,  these  are  obviously  anti-social  acts* 
Agnostics  and  materialists,  who  either  deny  the  existence 
of  a  spiritual  world,  or  maintain  that  there  is  no  evidence 
of  its  existence,  and  by  inference  conclude  that  it  does  not 
therefore  concern  us,  nevertheless  maintain  that  social 
life  without  ethics  is  impossible*  Their  difficulty  lies  in 
the  discovery  of  an  authoritative  and  compelling  sanction 
for  their  indispensable  moral  code.  Yet  many  unbelievers 
in  revealed  religion  lead  exemplary  moral  lives.  Our  Lord 
Himself  said  *  My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light/  and 
He  has  also  promised  :  *  If  ye  keep  my  commandments, 
ye  shall  abide  in  my  love/ 

Of  course,  as  we  have  seen,  the  commandments  in  all 
their  full  spiritual  and  celestial  meaning  do  set  up  a  standard 
of  perfection  which  very  few  can  hope  to  attain,  but  in  their 
literal  sense  they  surely  present  no  insuperable  difficulties* 

No  doubt  many  people  are  born  with  morbid  tendencies, 
with  passions  which  appear  too  strong  for  them,  and  find 
it  almost  impossible  to  restrain  or  to  put  away  from  them¬ 
selves  the  evils  they  are  prone  to*  But  this  world  is  a 
training  ground,  and  all  training  is  slow  and  gradual* 
What  is  expected  of  us  is  that  we  should,  in  the  happy 
phrase  of  Lord  Beaconsfield,  be  on  the  side  of  the  angels* 
Anyone  who  has  seen  a  child  learning  to  walk  will  readily 
admit  that  it  takes  time  and  patience,  the  child  itself  rarely 
showing  much  sign  of  the  latter*  And  so  it  is  with  us  in 
our  walk  through  life :  at  first  we  do  not  even  wish  to  walk, 
but  gradually  we  shall  find  the  desire  growing ;  we  shall 
then  better  understand  the  nth  and  12th  verses  of  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis  : 

And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind, 
whose  seed  is  in  itself,  upon  the  earth  :  and  it  was  so*  And  the 
earth  brought  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed  after  his  kind, 
and  the  tree  yielding  fruit,  whose  seed  was  in  itself,  after  his 
kind  :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

Or  the  Thirty-seventh  Psalm  :  *  Yet  a  little  while,  and  the 


ETHICS  69 

wicked  shall  not  be  ;  yea,  thou  shalt  diligently  consider  his 
place,  and  it  shall  not  be/ 

By  refraining  from  the  evil  acts  prohibited  in  the 
commandments,  from  motives  not  merely  of  secular 
morality,  but  because  it  is  the  Divine  injunction,  we  as  it 
were  automatically  admit  Divine  influence  into  our  hearts* 
It  is  as  though  a  water-pipe  which  through  neglect  had 
accumulated  mud  and  filth  which  had  choked  it  up  had 
a  small  part  of  this  dirt  removed;  the  water,  which  is 
always  at  pressure,  would  then  be  able  to  penetrate  through 
the  small  passage  thus  made,  and  gradually  as  the  pipe  was 
more  thoroughly  cleansed  the  volume  of  water  wrould  in¬ 
crease,  the  water  itself  considerably  facilitating  the  process ; 
indeed  all  that  need  be  done  is  to  loosen  the  obstruction 
and  break  it  down  and  the  water  pressure  will  force  it  out* 

It  is  difficult  for  the  finite  human  mind  to  conceive  of 
an  omnipresent  Deity,  always,  constantly,  and  consciously, 
personally  active,  striving  to  save  and  regenerate  every 
individual  soul,  no  matter  how  refractory  or  stubborn ;  but 
on  the  other  hand  any  other  conception  of  the  Deity  would 
be  repugnant  to  the  philosopher,  and  would  be  contrary 
to  the  Christian  religion* 

Thus  God  is  always,  as  it  were,  knocking  at  the  door, 
asking  us  for  admittance,  but  not  compelling  us  to  open 
it*  It  is  by  turning  away  from  evil  that  we  are  able  to 
open  the  door  ;  and  then  for  a  time  we  mostly  turn  back 
again  and  close  the  door*  We  are  thus  constantly  swinging, 
as  it  were,  between  our  desire  for  goodness — which  may, 
and  generally  does,  take  its  rise  from  pure  selfishness, 
from  the  love  of  self-preservation — and  our  hereditary 
proneness  to  evil,  but  gradually  the  battle  is  won  for  us  if 
we  do  not  wilfully  keep  the  door  closed* 

The  process,  as  already  stated,  partakes  of  the  nature 
of  an  organic  process,  like  that  of  the  assimilation  of  the 
nutritive  properties  of  our  food;  we  are  virtually  unconscious 
of  it,  but  there  is  nothing  miraculous  about  it*  In  other 
words  the  salvation  of  the  human  soul  proceeds  in  con¬ 
formity  with  spiritual  laws*  It  is  an  act  of  grace,  but  so 
is  the  creation  of  the  world  and  the  birth  of  every 
individual  in  this  inscrutable  universe* 


CHAPTER  IV 


Sex 

*  Male  and  female  created  he  them/  To  judge  by  the 
attitude  of  religious  fanatics  of  all  countries,  by  the 
Christian  and  pre-Christian  ascetics,  and  by  modern 
fiction,  it  would  appear  that  this  is  much  to  be  regretted* 
Sex  being  such  a  fruitful  source  of  every  kind  of  trouble, 
would  it  not  have  been  more  convenient  if  we  had  all  been 
like  oysters  i 

In  the  first  chapter  of  this  book  the  statement  is  made 
that  *  the  All-Wise  cannot  act  against  His  own  infinite 
Wisdom,  the  laws  by  which  He  acts  have  not  been  arbi¬ 
trarily  framed*  Infinite  Wisdom  can  only  act  infinitely 
wisely,  hence  there  is  even  in  the  lowest  forms  of  nature 
an  infinity  of  wisdom,  and  things  are  as  they  are,  not 
because  they  have  been  arbitrarily  so  created,  but  because 
they  could  not  be  otherwise/ 

If  this  is  true  generally,  it  must  be  true  particularly, 
and  it  must  apply  to  sex  as  well* 

What  is  the  philosophic  rationale  of  sex  i  The  super¬ 
ficial  answer,  of  course,  is  that  the  two  sexes  exist  for  the 
propagation  of  the  species*  But  this  is  not  a  philosophic 
answer*  Surely  other  means  of  propagating  the  species 
could  be  devised,  or,  to  speak  in  the  language  of  modern 
science,  might  have  been  evolved* 

So  far  we  have  come  across  no  writer  who  has  ventured 
to  give  a  reasoned  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  of  sex* 
It  is  taken  for  granted,  it  is  believed  to  have  given  rise  to 
many  difficult  problems,  and  to  have  produced  some  very 


SEX 


7i 

deplorable  complications ;  but  nobody  has  explained  the 
real  origin  of,  or  reason  for,  sex  except  Swedenborg, 

We  propose  to  attempt  to  reproduce  in  a  few  pages  the 
gist  of  what  that  philosopher  has  taught  on  this  subject. 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  let  us  first  turn  to  a  small 
work  entitled  *  The  New  Jerusalem  and  its  Heavenly 
Doctrine/  Here  we  read,  under  the  heading  *  Good  and 
Truth/  that  *  all  things  in  the  universe,  which  are  accord¬ 
ing  to  Divine  order,  have  relation  to  good  and  truth/ 
the  reason  being  that  good  and  truth  proceed  from  the 
Divine,  the  source  of  all  things. 

It  is  according  to  Divine  order  [we  are  told]  that  good  and 
truth  shall  be  conjoined,  and  not  separated  ;  thus  that  they 
shall  be  one  and  not  two,  ,  ,  ,  The  conjunction  of  good  and 
truth  in  Heaven  is  called  the  Heavenly  Marriage  ;  for  all  who 
are  there  are  in  that  marriage,  ♦  ,  ♦  All  intelligence  and  wisdom 
possessed  by  the  angels  is  from  this  marriage,  ♦  ,  .  Since  the 
conjunction  of  good  and  truth  is  like  a  marriage,  it  is  clear  that 
good  loves  truth,  and  that  in  turn  truth  loves  good,  and  that  the 
one  longs  to  be  conjoined  to  the  other,  ♦  ,  ♦  As  all  things  in  the 
universe  which  are  according  to  Divine  order  have  relation  to 
good  and  truth,  so  all  things  which  are  contrary  to  Divine  order 
have  relation  to  evil  and  falsity,  and  as  good  loves  to  be  con¬ 
joined  with  truth,  and  conversely  truth  with  good,  so  also  evil 
loves  to  be  conjoined  with  falsity,  and  conversely  falsity  with 
evil. 

The  whole  question  of  marriage  and  sex  is  exhaustively 
treated  in  a  work  entitled  *  Deliciae  Sapientiae  de  Amore 
Conjugiali/  which  for  some  obscure  reason  has  been 
translated  into  English  as  4  The  Delights  of  Wisdom 
Relating  to  Conjugial  Love/  It  is  unfortunate,  we  think, 
that  the  translator  should  have  coined  the  word  ‘conjugial/ 
In  Dr,  SmitlTs  Latin  Dictionary  the  adjective  conjugiali s 
is  rendered  as  belonging  to  marriage,  conjugal,  connubial, 
and  the  substantive  conjugium  as  a  connection,  union, 
and  as  marriage,  wedlock.  We  understand  that  objection 
was  raised  against  the  word  ‘  conjugal/  because  it  might  be 
held  to  have  derived  from  jugum ,  a  yoke  ;  but  its  deriva¬ 
tive  jugo  means  to  join,  to  connect.  We  shall  therefore 
here  give  the  word  its  correct  spelling. 


72 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


In  the  *  Conjugal  Love/  when  treating  of  the  origin 
of  that  love,  Swedenborg  tells  us  that  Good  and  Truth 
are  the  universals  of  creation  and  in  all  created  things 
according  to  the  form  of  each*  They  are  the  universals 
of  creation  because  they  are  in  the  Lord  God  the  Creator  ; 
indeed  they  are  Himself,  for  He  is  Divine  Good  itself  and 
Divine  Truth  itself*  This  will  be  more  clearly  understood 
if  we  substitute  for  Good,  Love,  and  for  Truth,  Wisdom, 
for  these  amount  to  the  same.  Every  created  thing  conse¬ 
quently  derives  something  of  good  and  truth  from  its 
Creator,  All  things  are  for  the  sake  of  the  human  race, 
in  order  that  from  it  may  be  derived  an  angelic  heaven 
through  which  creation  returns  to  the  Creator  from  Whom 
it  originated.  Hence  there  is  a  conjunction  of  the  created 
universe  with  the  Creator,  and  by  means  of  this  conjunction 
everlasting  preservation. 

As  good  and  truth  are  united  in  the  Creator,  it  follows 
that  they  cannot  be  separated,  and  that  good  without 
truth  is  not  good,  nor  is  truth,  separated  from  good,  truth. 
The  importance  of  this  axiom  will  become  evident  further 
on  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  future  life. 

There  is  truth  derived  from  good,  and  there  is  good 
derived  from  this  derivative  truth.  The  truth  derived 
from  good  is  masculine,  and  the  good  from  that  truth  is 
feminine.  This  will  be  more  easily  comprehended  if  we 
substitute  wisdom  for  truth  and  love  for  good.  Wisdom 
cannot  exist  with  man  except  by  means  of  the  love  of 
becoming  wise,  thus  wisdom  is  a  derivative  of  love,  or 
proceeds  from  love.  When  man,  from  love  of  it,  has 
acquired  wisdom,  he  begins  to  love  the  wisdom  thus 
acquired  which  he  has  made  part  of  himself,  and  conse¬ 
quently  loves  himself ;  but  this  self-love  of  his  own  wisdom 
is  an  evil  and  dangerous  thing :  it  is  nothing  else  but  self- 
conceit,  To  save  man  from  destruction,  it  was  provided 
that  this  love  should  be  taken  out  of  him  and  transfused 
into  woman  in  order  to  transform  it  into  conjugal  love,  by 
means  of  which  the  integrity  of  man  is  restored. 

Consequently  the  inmost  of  the  male  is  love,  and  its 
covering,  as  it  were,  is  wisdom,  or  in  other  words  the 
masculine  is  love  veiled  by  wisdom,  the  inmost  of  the 


SEX 


73 


female  being  the  wisdom  of  the  male  with  a  covering  of 
love  which,  however,  is  feminine  love,  which  is  given  by 
the  Lord  to  the  wife  through  the  wisdom  of  the  husband  ; 
whereas  the  masculine  love,  which  is  the  love  of  growing 
wise,  is  given  by  the  Lord  to  the  husband  according  to 
his  reception  of  wisdom.  The  male  is  therefore  the 
wisdom  of  love,  and  the  female  the  love  of  that  wisdom, 
and  from  creation  there  has  been  implanted  in  both  the 
love  or  desire  for  union. 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  male  is  born  intellectual, 
whilst  the  female  is  born  voluntary ;  in  other  words,  the 
male  has  an  inborn  affection  for  knowing,  understanding, 
and  growing  wise,  and  the  female  has  an  inborn  love  or 
desire  to  unite  or  conjoin  herself  with  that  affection  in 
the  male.  This  is  also  why  the  male  and  female  differ 
in  face,  voice,  and  body,  the  male  having  harder  features, 
a  harsher  voice,  and  a  stronger  body  and  a  bearded  chin  : 
for  the  male  is  masculine  in  every  part  of  his  body  and 
in  every  idea  and  affection,  and  the  female  is  similarly 
feminine,  and  as  the  one  cannot  be  changed  into  the  other 
they  retain  their  sex  after  death. 

There  is  a  universal  conjugal  sphere  which  proceeds 
from  the  Lord  and  pervades  the  universe  from  its  primes 
to  its  ultimates,  from  angels  to  worms  ;  it  is  the  sphere  of 
the  marriage  of  good  and  truth,  the  sphere  of  propagation, 
of  prolification  and  fructification ;  it  promotes  the  pre¬ 
servation  of  the  universe  by  means  of  successive  genera¬ 
tions.  As  this  universal  sphere  flows  into  subjects  accord¬ 
ing  to  their  form,  the  male  receives  it  in  his  intellect, 
because  he  is  an  intellectual  form,  and  the  female  in  the 
will,  and  as  it  is  also  the  sphere  of  prolification  it  follows 
that  sex  love  is  thence.  Conjugal  love  is  thence,  for  it 
flows  into  men  and  angels.  Man  is  capable  of  growing 
in  wisdom  to  the  end  of  his  terrestrial  life,  and  afterwards 
to  eternity  in  Heaven,  and  in  proportion  as  he  grows  in 
wisdom  his  form  is  perfected  ;  but  this  form  does  not 
receive  sex  love,  but  the  love  for  one  particular  individual 
of  the  opposite  sex,  with  which  it  can  be  united  to  the 
inmosts  in  which  Heaven  is  with  its  felicities  :  this  union 
is  conjugal  love. 


74 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


General  sex  love  is  an  attribute  of  the  natural  or  external 
man  and  is  common  to  every  animaL  Every  man  is  born 
corporeal,  but  in  proportion  as  he  loves  intelligence  he 
becomes  rational,  and  if  he  loves  wisdom  he  becomes 
spiritual.  While  he  thus  progresses  his  mind  changes  its 
form,  it  is  opened  more  and  more  and  conjoins  itself  more 
closely  with  Heaven  and  through  Heaven  with  the  Lord, 
becoming  more  and  more  enamoured  of  truth  and  more 
studious  of  the  good  of  life.  The  more  perfected  a  man 
becomes  the  more  accessible  is  he  to  the  influx  of  conjugal 
love  ;  he  feels  and  perceives  in  this  love  a  spiritual  delight, 
full  of  interior  blessedness,  and  from  this  a  natural  delight 
which  is  derived  from  the  former. 

Therefore  it  follows  that  the  male  and  female  human 
beings  have  been  so  created  that  out  of  two  they  may 
become,  as  it  were,  one,  and  when  they  have  thus  become 
united  they  constitute  a  complete  human  entity ;  but 
without  such  union  they  are  two,  and  each  is  but  a  divided, 
or  half,  human  being,  Plato  taught  virtually  the  same 
thing.  As  this  desire  for,  or  tendency  towards,  union 
lies  inmostly  latent  in  every  part  of  the  male  and  female, 
it  follows  that  mutual  and  reciprocal  sex  love  remains  with 
human  beings  after  death. 

In  the  Gospels  our  Lord  says  :  *  In  the  resurrection 
they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as 
the  angels  of  God  in  heaven  '  (Matthew  xxii,  30),  And 
in  another  Gospel :  *  When  they  rise  from  the  dead,  they 
neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage  ;  but  are  as  the 
angels  which  are  in  heaven  t  (Mark  xii,  25),  and  in  yet  a 
third  there  is  a  more  explicit  statement : 

And  Jesus  answering  said  unto  them,  The  children  of  this 
world  marry,  and  are  given  in  marriage  :  But  they  which  shall 
be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage : 
Neither  can  they  die  any  more  :  for  they  are  equal  unto  the 
angels  ;  and  are  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of  the 
resurrection,  (Luke  xxi,  34-36,) 

This  has  been  held  to  mean  that  there  is  no  sex  in 
Heaven,  Moreover,  St,  Paul,  who  was  an  ascetic,  seems 


SEX 


75 

to  have  had  rather  confused  notions  regarding  marriage. 
In  i  Corinthians  vii.  he  says  : 

Now  concerning  the  things  whereof  ye  wrote  unto  me  :  It 
is  good  for  a  man  not  to  touch  a  woman.  Nevertheless,  to 
avoid  fornication,  let  every  man  have  his  own  wife,  and  let  every 
woman  have  her  own  husband,  ,  ,  ,  I  would  that  all  men  were 
even  as  I  myself.  But  every  man  hath  his  proper  gift  of  God, 
one  after  this  manner,  one  after  that.  I  say  therefore  to  the 
unmarried  and  widows  :  It  is  good  for  them  if  they  abide  even 
as  I,  But  if  they  cannot  contain,  let  them  marry  :  for  it  is 
better  to  marry  than  to  burn. 

Here  St.  Paul  would  seem  to  regard  marriage  not  as 
a  Divine  institution,  but  as  a  makeshift — what  the  French 
would  call  a  pis  alter .  Yet  in  i  Timothy  iv,  he  would 
seem  to  prophesy  against  himself,  for  it  opens  as  follows  : 

Now  the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the  latter  times 
some  shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  seducing  spirits 
and  doctrines  of  devils  ;  speaking  lies  in  hypocrisy  ;  having 
their  conscience  seared  with  a  hot  iron ;  Forbidding  to  marry, 
and  commanding  to  abstain  from  meats,  which  God  hath 
created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiving  of  them  which  believe 
and  know  the  truth. 

In  chapter  v.  of  the  same  epistle  he  even  enjoins  Timothy 
to  *  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  little  wine  for  thy 
stomach's  sake  and  thine  often  infirmities  * ;  and  in 
Ephesians  v,  he  strikes  the  right  note  : 

Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the 
church,  and  gave  himself  for  it.  .  .  ♦  So  ought  men  to  love 
their  wives  as  their  own  bodies.  He  that  loveth  his  wife  loveth 
himself.  For  no  man  ever  yet  hated  his  own  flesh  ;  but 
nourisheth  and  cherisheth  it,  even  as  the  Lord  the  church  : 
For  we  are  members  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones. 
For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother,  and  shall 
be  joined  unto  his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  one  flesh. 

It  would  seem  that  the  marriages  referred  to  by  the 
Sadducees  and  by  St.  Paul  were  gross,  and  what  may 
perhaps  be  described  as  worldly  and  carnal  unions,  not 
true  conjugal  marriages,  for  there  appears  to  have  been 
little  understanding  of  romantic  love  in  those  days.  It 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


76 

would  certainly  be  better  to  contract  even  such  a  marriage 
than  to  burn  with  roving  desire  or  lust* 

Swedenborg,  however,  throws  an  entirely  new  and 
quite  unexpected  light  on  the  Gospel  passages*  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  our  Lord  was  answering  the  Sad- 
ducees  who,  in  their  utter  disbelief  of  a  future  life,  thought 
they  were  putting  Him  a  problem  which  in  itself  re¬ 
duced  the  whole  idea  of  human  survival  after  death  to 
absurdity* 

Our  Lord  concluded  His  reply  with  the  words  :  *  Now 
that  the  dead  are  raised,  even  Moses  shewed  at  the  bush, 
when  he  calleth  the  Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob*  For  he  is  not  a  God 
of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living  :  for  all  live  unto  him  ' 
(Luke  xx.)*  Swedenborg  points  out  that  the  Lord  on 
this  occasion  taught  two  things — namely,  that  man  rises 
after  death,  and  that  in  Heaven  they  are  not  given  in 
marriage*  But  no  other  marriage  is  here  referred  to, 
Swedenborg  maintains,  but  the  spiritual  marriage  with  the 
Lord,  which  is  effected  on  earth*  He  demonstrates  by 
quotations  from  numerous  texts  that  to  marry  is  to  be 
conjoined  with  the  Lord,  and  that  to  enter  into  marriage 
is  to  be  received  in  Heaven  by  the  Lord*  Spiritual 
nuptials,  which  are  those  of  goodness  and  truth,  are  what 
is  meant  by  marriage  in  the  Word*  These  take  place  on 
earth  and  not  in  the  heavens*  Thus  the  five  foolish 
virgins  who  were  invited  to  the  wedding  could  not  enter 
because  they  were  not  in  the  marriage  of  good  and  truth* 
They  had  no  oil  in  their  lamps*  Oil  means  good,  the  lamp 
holding  the  oil  representing  truth* 

We  have  biblical  authority  that  our  Lord  generally 
spoke  in  parables  :  this  was  indeed  necessary,  to  avoid 
profanation. 

That  every  individual  soul  must  be  conjoined  to  the 
Lord  in  order  to  be  saved  scarcely  needs  to  be  stated ; 
it  is  so  obvious*  This  conjunction  is  the  marriage  of 
good  and  truth  in  the  individual*  In  the  Word  the 
Lord  is  repeatedly  referred  to  as  the  Bridegroom  and 
Husband,  and  the  Church  as  the  bride  and  wife,  and  the 
conjunction  of  the  Lord  with  the  Church  is  spoken  of 


SEX 


77 


as  a  marriage*  The  Lord  is  also  described  as  Father 
and  the  Church  as  Mother,  and  the  spiritual  offspring 
or  results  from  this  union  of  the  Lord  with  the  Church 
are  truths,  perceptions,  and  thoughts,  and  goods,  love, 
charity,  and  affection*  Swedenborg  is,  however,  careful 
to  explain  that  this  is  because  the  Lord  is  good  itself, 
or  its  essence,  and  also  the  very  truth,  and  these  essentials 
of  His  Being  are  not  two,  but  form  a  united  whole,  and 
because  that  whatever  proceeds  from  the  Lord  must  be 
in  Him*  Thus  the  marriage  of  good  and  truth  proceeds 
from  Him  and  flows  into,  and  is  received  by,  individuals 
according  to  the  state  of  the  mind  and  life  of  those  who 
are  of  the  Church*  Man  is  constituted  of  volition  and 
understanding,  his  will  is  the  receptacle  of  good,  and  the 
understanding  the  receptacle  of  truth*  Now  man,  being 
endowed  with  reason,  appropriates  truth  as  his  own,  for 
he  thinks  it  emanates  from  himself,  and  to  this  the  Lord 
adjoins  truth* 

A  little  reflection  on  the  above  statements  of  Sweden¬ 
borg,  which  will  appeal  to  the  unbiased  as  clear  and 
logical,  must  show  that  sex  and  marriage  are,  as  it  were, 
the  basis  of  the  universe*  They  derive  direct  from  the 
union  of  love  and  wisdom  in  the  Creator,  and  they  are 
the  means  of  bringing  the  individual  creatures  back  to 
conjunction  with  their  Creator,  whose  one  aim  must  be 
to  create  beings  capable  of  enjoying  happiness,  in  order 
that  He  may  bestow  the  blessing  of  happiness  upon  them* 

When  we  look  round  the  world  we  are  compelled  to 
admit  that  there  is  but  very  little  happiness  among  human 
beings ;  but  an  honest  and  impartial  examination  of  human 
conditions  will  prove  to  us  that  even  to  the  carnal  eyes 
of  the  purely  materially  minded  man  it  must  be  patent 
that  the  bulk  of  human  misery  is  due  to  human  selfishness, 
whilst  to  the  spiritually  minded  this  is  self-evident,  for 
he  knows  that  even  the  phenomena  of  nature,  which  have 
other  than  a  beneficent  influence,  owe  their  existence  and 
force  to  malign  spiritual  powers  which  would  be  impotent 
if  the  selfishness  of  man  did  not  offer  them  suitable  soil, 
culture-beds  for  the  propagation  of  their  malevolence. 

The  average  sensual  man,  so  happily  imagined  by 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


78 

Matthew  Arnold,  takes  a  view  of  the  sex  question  which 
is  very  understandable  and  even  excusable.  He  says  : 

Here  am  I,  created  with  strong  desires  and  almost  un¬ 
controllable  passions,  and  yet  I  am  told  that  if  I  give  way  to 
these  desires  and  passions,  which  are  too  strong  for  me,  I  offend 
against  the  divine  commandments  of  my  Creator,  and  shall  be 
cruelly  punished  with  eternal  damnation,  that  is  to  say,  I  shall 
spend  the  whole  of  my  life  after  death  in  eternal  torture*  Could 
anything  be  more  cruel  i  And  yet  we  are  taught  that  God 
is  love  1 

But  the  case  is  not  quite  as  bad  as  it  is  generally 
presented,  and  a  study  of  Swedenborg's  teachings  on  this 
subject  will  throw  considerable  additional  light  on  what, 
at  the  first  blush  and  to  the  purely  carnal  mind,  must 
appear  as  a  paradox* 

In  Matthew  xxiii*  our  Lord  says  : 

The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat ;  All  there¬ 
fore  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do  ;  but 
do  not  ye  after  their  works  :  for  they  say,  and  do  not*  For  they 
bind  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  lay  them  on 
men's  shoulders  ;  but  they  themselves  will  not  move  them  with 
one  of  their  fingers. 

How  many  a  young  man  has  not  felt  the  truth  of  those 
words  i  For  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites,  are 
still  with  us,  and  they  are  still  making  the  law  of  God 
of  none  effect  by  their  tradition* 

But  Swedenborg  is  no  Pharisee  and  no  hypocrite*  If 
we  read  his  *  Conjugal  Love  '  attentively  and  with  an 
open  mind  we  shall  be  struck  by  the  profound  wisdom 
it  reveals,  the  toleration  it  teaches,  and  its  obvious  and 
logical  common  sense* 

We  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  that  the  Ten  Com¬ 
mandments,  far  from  being  arbitrary  and  vexatious  laws 
propounded  by  a  tyrannical  Deity,  are  nothing  more  than 
the  fundamental  rules  of  spiritual  hygiene*  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  eternal  punishment ;  hell  consists  in  asso¬ 
ciation  with  evil  spirits,  and  if,  as  Burns  says,  *  Man's 
inhumanity  to  man  makes  countless  thousands  mourn,' 
how  much  more  grievous  must  be  the  inhumanity  or 


SEX 


79 


cruelty  of  devils  towards  each  other  i  But  unfortunately 
wicked  spirits,  unhappy  as  they  are,  would  be  still  more 
unhappy  in  the  society  of  angels*  However,  it  is  not  in 
the  nature  of  things  that  they  could  be  so  associated* 

It  is  needless  to  insist  that  purity  of  life  is  in  the  order 
of  Heaven,  and  that  impure  desires  and  acts  are  incom¬ 
patible  with  an  angelic  existence*  Yet  people  are  born 
with  carnal  desires*  These,  in  so  far  as  they  are  natural, 
are  easily  controlled ;  but  unfortunately  with  these  per¬ 
fectly  legitimate  and  natural  desires  there  are  combined 
evil  propensities  acquired  by  heredity*  If  the  object  of 
creation  is  the  population  of  Heaven,  it  follows  that  this 
world  is  a  training-ground  in  which  the  human  character 
is  trained  for  its  ultimate  destiny — Heaven*  This  training, 
which  Swedenborg  calls  regeneration,  is  performed  by  the 
Lord,  as  we  shall  see  further  on*  The  role  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual  is  to  suffer  himself  to  be  so  trained,  and  for  this 
purpose  it  is  necessary  that  he  should  observe  the  laws 
of  spiritual  hygiene  laid  down  for  him,  so  that  he  may 
not  acquire  characteristics  which  will  unfit  him  for 
Heaven*  But  let  us  carry  this  analogy  between  physical 
and  spiritual  laws  a  little  further*  We  all  violate  the  laws 
of  physical  hygiene  more  or  less,  and  although  the  laws 
of  nature  are  as  immutable  as  the  laws  of  the  spiritual 
life,  yet  the  recuperative  power  of  the  human  organism 
is  such  that  it  can  throw  off  the  effects  of  occasional 
indiscretions*  Nobody  takes  sufficient  exercise,  for  in¬ 
stance,  but  the  human  organism  adapts  itself  to  this 
violation  of  the  laws  of  nature*  Then,  again,  take 
drunkenness*  People  who  are  not  habitual  drunkards 
can  and  do  occasionally  get  drunk  without  serious  con¬ 
sequences,  but  the  habitual  drunkard  inevitably  under¬ 
mines  his  constitution  unless  he  reforms  in  time,  and 
the  more  confirmed  he  becomes  in  his  habit  the  more 
difficult  will  this  reformation  be* 

Let  us  study  Swedenborg's  teaching  regarding  the 
sex  question  in  the  light  of  the  above  considerations* 

We  have  seen  that  conjugal  love  is  the  basic  love,  so 
to  speak,  of  Heaven ;  consequently  its  opposite,  adulterous 
love,  is  infernal.  This  is  indeed  universally  recognised, 


8o 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


to  hate  your  neighbour  and  to  love  your  neighbour's 
wife  is  the  epitome  of  the  carnal  man's  creed.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  man  or  woman  whose  delight  is  to 
seduce  married  partners  of  the  opposite  sex  can  have  no 
place  in  Heaven, 

In  the  section  of  his  book  on  *  Conjugal  Love '  which 
deals  with  its  opposite,  he  says  : 

It  must  first  be  explained  what  is  meant  by  the  love  of  forni¬ 
cation,  The  love  of  fornication  which  precedes  marriage  is  not 
meant,  nor  that  which  follows  it  after  the  death  of  a  married 
partner  ;  nor  the  concubinage  which  is  engaged  in  from  legiti¬ 
mate,  just,  weighty  reasons  ;  neither  are  meant  the  mild  kinds 
of  adultery,  nor  the  grievous  kinds,  which  are  actually  repented 
of,  for  the  latter  do  not  become  opposite,  and  the  former  are 
not  opposite,  to  conjugal  love,  ♦  ♦  .  But  by  the  love  of  fornica¬ 
tion,  opposite  to  conjugal  love,  is  here  meant  the  love  of  adultery, 
when  it  is  such  that  adultery  is  not  held  to  be  sin,  nor  to  be  evil 
and  wrong  against  reason,  but  allowable  with  reason. 

This  kind  of  love,  Swedenborg  says,  does  not  only  make 
conjugal  love  identical  with  itself,  but  even  ruins,  destroys 
and  eventually  nauseates  it. 

With  regard  to  adultery,  he  says,  evil  has  an  analogous 
love  for  falsity,  and  a  similar  desire  to  unite  itself  with  it, 
as  good  has  for  truth.  Consequently,  while  the  spiritual 
origin  of  marriage  is  the  union  of  good  and  truth,  so  the 
spiritual  origin  of  adultery  is  the  connubial  connection 
of  evil  and  falsity.  In  the  Bible  adulteries,  whoredoms 
and  harlotry  mean  falsifications  of  truth. 

In  what  manner  what  is  usually  called  fornication 
differs  from  technical  adultery  cannot  be  understood, 
Swedenborg  tells  us, 

by  any  rational  being,  unless  he  takes  a  clear  view  of  the  love 
of  the  sex  in  its  degrees  and  diversities,  and,  on  the  one  part,  of 
its  chaste  things,  and  on  the  other,  of  its  unchaste  things,  and 
divides  each  part  into  genera  and  species,  and  thus  distinguishes ; 
otherwise  the  difference  between  what  is  more  and  less  chaste 
and  between  what  is  more  and  less  unchaste  cannot  be  clearly 
visible  in  anyone's  idea,  and  without  these  distinctions  all 
relation  perishes,  and  therewith  clear-sightedness  in  matters 
of  judgment,  and  the  understanding  is  involved  in  such  shade 


SEX 


81 


that  it  does  not  know  how  to  discriminate  fornication  from 
adultery,  and  still  less  the  milder  things  of  fornication  from 
the  more  grievous  ones,  and  in  like  manner  those  of  adultery  ; 
thus  it  mixes  evils,  and  of  diverse  evils  makes  one  pottage,  and  of 
diverse  goods  one  paste. 

The  love  of  sex  is  in  every  man,  although  it  may  not 
always  manifest  itself.  When  it  manifests  itself,  before 
marriage,  with  a  meretricious  person,  it  is  called  fornica¬ 
tion  ;  if  it  only  manifests  itself  between  husband  and 
wife  it  is  called  marriage  ;  but  when  it  manifests  itself, 
after  marriage,  with  a  third  person,  it  is  called  adultery. 
Thus  the  love  of  the  sex  is  like  a  fountain  from  which 
both  chaste  and  unchaste  love  may  flow. 

The  love  of  sex,  and  consequently  the  tendency  to 
fornication,  commences  at  the  period  when  the  under¬ 
standing  begins  to  become  rational,  to  think  things  out 
from  its  own  reason  ;  the  instruction  received  from  parents 
and  teachers,  which  has  been  retained  in  the  memory, 
serving  as  a  plane.  It  is  known  that  the  love  of  the  sex 
follows  the  commencement  of  the  awakening  of  the  mind, 
and  progresses  according  to  its  vigour,  and  this  proves 
that  this  love  ascends  as  the  mind  is  uplifted,  and 
descends  as  the  mind  is  lowered.  It  is  uplifted  into 
wisdom,  and  lowered  into  insanity.  In  a  state  of  wisdom 
it  is  restrained,  but  in  the  opposite  state  it  is  given  free 
rein.  If  the  love  of  the  sex  should  lead  to  incontinence, 
hope  should  not  be  abandoned.  To  think  that  because 
continence  is  found  to  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  there¬ 
fore  it  is  useless  to  practise  restraint  of  any  kind  or  nourish 
any  hope  of  future  chastity,  is  the  counsel  of  despair.  It 
is  too  often  the  result  of  the  unsympathetic  attitude  of 
parents,  teachers,  and  ministers  of  religion,  who  emulate  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  of  the  Scriptures  already  referred  to. 

Swedenborg  is  much  more  hopeful  and  much  more 
logical.  He  enjoins  the  importance  of  moderating  forni¬ 
cation  from  the  principles  of  honour  and  morality,  but 
warns  his  readers  that  the  love  of  sex,  which  is  carnal  in 
its  first  manifestations,  cannot  be  spiritualised  until  it 
becomes  conjugal — in  other  words,  until  wandering 
carnal  lust  gives  place  to  the  love  of  one,  and  there  is 

Q 


8a 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


thus  brought  about  a  union  of  two  souls*  *  In  fornica¬ 
tion/  he  tells  us,  *  conjugal  love  may  lie  stored  up  within, 
as  what  is  spiritual  may  lie  stored  up  in  what  is  natural, 
indeed  what  is  spiritual  is  even  actually  evolved  out  of 
what  is  natural/  General  love  of  the  sex,  therefore, 
precedes  spiritual  love  of  one  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  if 
fornication  proceeds  from  the  natural  sex  love  it  may, 
Swedenborg  assures  us,  be  wiped  away,  provided  4  that 
conjugal  love  be  regarded,  wished  for,  and  sought  after 
as  the  chief  good/  The  love  of  adultery,  however, 
Swedenborg  describes  as  4  libidinous  and  obscene  * — it  is 
opposite  to  conjugal  love,  and  destructive  of  it* 

But  care  must  be  taken  lest  conjugal  love  be  destroyed 
by  the  lust  of  variety  or  inordinate  indulgence,  the  con¬ 
sequences  of  which  Swedenborg  dwells  on  very  fully* 
He  adds  :  4  It  is  the  duty  of  parents  to  take  care  lest  these 
mischiefs  happen,  for  a  growing  youth  strongly  excited 
by  lust,  cannot  as  yet  from  reason  impose  a  restraint  on 
himself/  and  he  concludes  by  emphasising  that  4  it  is 
better  that  the  torch  of  love  of  the  sex  be  first  lighted 
with  a  wife  ' — he,  however,  admits  that  in  some  individual 
cases  it  is  practically  impossible  to  carry  out  this  counsel 
of  perfection,  more  especially  in  a  state  of  society  where, 
as  he  quaintly  puts  it, 

matrimonies  cannot  be  contracted  by  many  till  the  season  of 
youth  is  past ;  for  appointments  must  first  be  obtained,  and 
property  acquired  for  the  support  of  a  house  and  family,  and 
then  first  a  worthy  wife  must  be  courted  ;  and  yet  in  the  pre¬ 
ceding  age,  the  springing  fountain  of  manhood  can  with  but 
few  be  kept  closed  and  reserved  for  a  wife*  It  is  indeed  better 
that  it  should  be  reserved  ;  but  if  this  cannot  be  done  on  account 
of  the  unbridled  power  of  lust,  an  intermediate  means  is  needed, 
by  which  conjugal  love  may  be  prevented  from  perishing  in  the 
meantime. 

To  the  carnally  minded  man  there  is,  however,  no 
external  difference  between  marriage  and  adultery,  and 
consequently,  while  admitting  its  social  inconvenience, 
he  cannot  see  any  inherent  evil  in  the  latter*  Why  it  is 
evil,  and  what  its  dangers,  we  have  already  explained* 
Swedenborg  teaches  that  adulteries  are  divisible  into  three 


SEX 


83 

categories*  There  is  simple  adultery  of  an  unmarried 
person  with  a  married  person  ;  there  is  twofold  adultery 
between  twx>  persons,  each  married  to  another  ;  and  finally 
there  is  incest*  There  are,  further,  four  degrees  of 
adultery*  In  the  first  degree  are  adulteries  committed 
from  ignorance ;  in  the  second  are  those  which  are  com¬ 
mitted  from  lust ;  in  the  third  are  those  which  are  com¬ 
mitted  from  reason  by  persons  who  argue  that  they  are 
not  sinful ;  and  in  the  fourth  are  those  which  are  committed 
of  volition  by  persons  who  regard  them  as  allowable  and 
do  not  attach  sufficient  importance  to  them  to  consult 
their  minds  concerning  them* 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  point  out  that  offences  of 
the  first  degree  are  mild,  provided  the  offenders  abstain 
from  them  later  when  they  understand  that  they  are  sins 
against  God,  and  offences  against  the  neighbour  and 
society*  With  regard  to  offences  of  the  second  degree, 
there  is  a  constant  strife  in  every  human  soul  between 
the  spirit  and  the  flesh,  and  marriage  is  of  the  spirit, 
whilst  adultery  is  of  the  flesh*  When  the  lust  of  the 
flesh  is  excited  to  a  heat  greater  than  the  spirit  can 
control  from  reason,  it  follows  that  it  is  no  longer  master* 
Offences  committed  in  this  degree  are  more  or  less 
grievous  in  proportion  as  they  are  subsequently  approved 
or  deplored* 

Adulteries  in  the  third  and  fourth  degrees  are  obviously 
grievous* 

We  do  not  propose  to  follow  Swedenborg  throughout 
his  very  profound  study  of  the  various  kinds  of  offences 
in  the  domain  of  sex  love* 

Let  us  turn  to  the  more  fragrant  subject  of  marriage* 
Swedenborg  tells  us  that  conjugal  love,  in  its  essence  and 
from  its  derivation,  is  holy  and  pure  above  every  other 
love,  and  is,  as  it  were,  the  head  of  all  other  loves*  True 
conjugal  love  is  nothing  less  than  the  union  of  love  and 
wisdom,  and  two  married  partners  who  mutually  possess 
this  love  are  an  effigy  and  form  of  it*  Conjugal  love 
might  therefore  be  described  as  the  parent  of  all  other 
loves,  which  are,  as  it  were,  its  offspring*  There  does 
not  exist  any  substance  without  a  form,  for  an  unformed 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


84 

substance  is  not  anything,  because  nothing  can  be  pre¬ 
dicated  of  it ;  and  a  subject  without  entities  is  an  entity 
of  no  reason*  Two  married  partners  who  are  in  true 
conjugal  love  are  consequently  actually  forms  of  the 
marriage  of  good  and  truth,  or  of  love  and  wisdom* 
That  goodness  and  truth  must  be  married  to  become 
effective  is  demonstrated  by  nature  where  the  earth, 
which  is  a  symbol  of  good,  is  only  rendered  fruitful  by 
means  of  water,  which  is  a  symbol  of  truth* 

All  delights  whatsoever  which  are  enjoyed  by  man 
spring  from  conjugal  love,  for  the  object  of  this  love  is 
the  propagation  of  the  human  race  and  of  the  angelic 
heaven ;  and  as  this  is  the  supreme  end  of  creation,  it 
follows  that  all  the  happiness  and  pleasure  which  can 
possibly  be  conferred  on  man  are  collected  in  this  love* 
But  only  those  can  possess  this  love  who  approach  the 
Lord  and  love  the  truths  of  religion,  and  act  accordingly, 
for  monogamous  marriages  correspond  to  the  marriage 
of  the  Lord  with  the  Church*  It  is  impossible  for  any 
love  to  become  perfectly  pure,  either  with  men  or  angels, 
not  even  conjugal  love  ;  but  as  the  intention  is  primarily 
regarded  by  the  Lord,  therefore  in  proportion  as  a  man 
is  in  this  intention,  and  perseveres  in  it,  in  the  same 
proportion  is  he  initiated  into  its  purity  and  holiness  and 
advances  therein* 

True  conjugal  love  is  chastity  itself,  for  it  is  the 
opposite  of  an  unchaste  love  ;  so  far  as  a  man  is  purified 
of  the  love  of  fornication  he  becomes  chaste,  but  this  only 
applies  to  monogamous  marriages*  Moreover,  chastity 
cannot  be  predicated  of  those  who  have  taken  vows  of 
perpetual  celibacy*  Those  who  adopt  celibacy  for  the 
sake  of  withdrawing  from  the  world  in  order  to  devote 
themselves  to  Divine  worship  are  only  chaste  if  the  love 
of  a  true  conjugal  life  preceded  that  act  or  follows  and 
remains*  After  death,  all  who  have  lived  in  cloisters  are 
freed  from  their  vows  and  allowed  to  choose  the  life  they 
wish  to  lead*  If  they  elect  to  lead  a  conjugal  life  they  are 
admitted  to  Heaven,  but  those  who  wish  to  continue  an 
extra-conjugal  life  join  their  like  who  dwell  at  the  sides 
of  Heaven* 


SEX 


85 

Unlike  St*  Paul,  Swedenborg  maintains  that  the  state 
of  marriage  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  state  of  celibacy, 
because  it  is  the  state  ordained  from  creation,  and  for 
the  reasons  which  have  been  adduced  above  and  need 
not,  therefore,  be  recapitulated*  He  further  points  out 
that  by  the  eunuchs  who  make  themselves  eunuchs  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God  (referred  to  in  Matthew  ix*  2)  are  meant 
spiritual  eunuchs  who  are  faithful  husbands* 

The  effect  of  true  conjugal  love  is  to  unite  two  souls 
and  two  minds,  the  will  of  the  wife  conjoining  itself  with 
the  understanding  of  the  man,  and  the  understanding  of 
the  man  conjoining  itself  with  the  will  of  the  wife*  While 
the  wife  is  constantly  tending  to  unite  her  will  with  the 
husband's  understanding,  the  man's  desire  for  union  is, 
as  it  were,  intermittent  and  fluctuating,  for  the  latter  is 
not  love,  as  the  wife  is,  but  only  its  recipient,  and  his 
receptivity  is  not  constant,  but  varies  with  circumstances* 
Moreover,  the  union  of  the  two  minds  is  a  gradual  pro¬ 
cess,  for  the  first  heat  of  marriage,  which  partakes  of  the 
carnal  nature  of  sex  love,  does  not  conjoin  ;  it  is  only  when 
friendship  and  confidence  are  conjoined  with  the  first 
love  of  marriage  that  conjugal  love  sets  in*  This  con¬ 
junction  is  inspired  by  the  wife  according  to  her  love, 
and  is  received  by  the  husband  in  accordance  with  his 
wisdom,  the  reason  being  that  conjugal  love,  and  even 
sex  love,  is  inherent  in  women,  but  not  in  men*  This 
conjunction  is  progressive  to  eternity  with  those  who  are 
in  true  conjugal  love*  Men  perceive  truths  from  reason, 
women  from  affection.  Now,  as  the  understanding  is  in 
the  nature  of  light,  and  love  in  that  of  heat,  it  is  obvious, 
in  view  of  the  universal  difference  between  the  masculine 
and  the  feminine,  that  the  husband  cannot  possibly 
possess  the  wisdom  of  the  wife,  and  vice  versa * 

Conjugal  love  leads  to  states  of  innocence,  peace, 
tranquillity,  inmost  friendship,  full  confidence,  and  a 
heartfelt  desire  and  a  general  disposition  to  make  all 
good  mutual ;  hence  there  arise  blessedness,  happiness, 
and  pleasure,  and  from  the  eternal  enjoyment  of  these  is 
heavenly  felicity*  It  is  evident  that  this  must  be  so,  for 
its  origin  is  from  the  marriage  of  good  and  truth,  which 


86 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


is  from  the  Lord,  who  created  human  beings  to  be  recep¬ 
tacles  of  love  and  wisdom,  which  proceed  from  Him,  and 
has  infused  into  them  conjugal  love  for  the  reception  of 
every  species  of  happiness,  which  flows  in  solely  from  His 
divine  love,  through  His  divine  wisdom,  together  with  life* 
Unfortunately,  Swedenborg  informs  us,  true  conjugal 
love  is  at  present  rare  in  this  world* 

We  will  conclude  this  chapter,  which  has  already 
grown  to  undue  proportions,  with  the  following  beautiful 
and  poetic  extracts  from  *  Conjugal  Love  ' : 

The  Divine  providence  of  the  Lord  is  most  particular  and 
most  universal  in  relation  to  marriages  and  in  marriages, 
because  all  the  delights  of  Heaven  flow  from  the  delights  of 
conjugal  love,  as  sweet  waters  from  the  fountain  head  ;  and  on 
this  account  it  is  provided  that  conjugal  pairs  be  born,  and  that 
they  be  continually  educated  for  marriage  under  the  Lord's 
auspices,  neither  the  boy  nor  the  girl  being  conscious  of  this, 
and  after  a  certain  time,  when  they  have  both  become  fitted  for 
marriage,  they  meet  as  by  fate,  and  see  each  other,  and  they  then 
instantly  know,  as  by  a  kind  of  instinct,  that  they  are  consorts, 
and  by  a  kind  of  dictate  they  think  inwardly,  the  young  man 
that  the  maiden  is  his  and  the  maiden  that  the  young  man  is 
hers  ;  and  when  this  thought  has  been  seated  some  time  in  their 
minds,  they  deliberately  accost  each  other  and  betroth  themselves* 

Swedenborg  then  explains  that  it  is  providentially  brought 
about  that  affinities  should  recognise  each  other* 

This  is  commonly  called  4  falling  in  love/  yet  it  is  not 
quite  the  same  thing.  However,  even  so  mundane  a 
novelist  as  Henry  Fielding  had  a  very  clear  perception  of 
the  difference  between  love  and  passion. 

In  these  days  of  woman  suffrage  and  female  emancipa¬ 
tion,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Swedenborg,  writing  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  warns  married  partners  not  to 
strive  for  pre-eminence  or  command* 

Conjugal  love  [he  says]  has  chiefly  respect  to  the  union  of 
wills,  and  freedom  of  action  resulting  thence  ;  both  which  are 
cast  out  from  marriage  by  such  striving*  While  that  striving 
lasts,  the  spirit  of  the  one  meditates  violence  against  the  other 
♦  ♦  ♦  after  one  has  obtained  the  victory  *  ♦  ♦  cold  ensues*1 

1  ‘  Conjugial  Love/  §  248,  p.  223. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Governance  of  the  World 

By  common  consent  in  all  Christian  countries  the  world 
is  acknowledged  to  be  governed  by  the  Divine  Providence, 
but  in  modern  times  there  has  been  a  tendency  to  return 
to  the  ideas  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  to  regard  nature  as 
something  autonomous,  according  to  the  scientific  view, 
and,  in  the  eyes  of  religious  people,  as  something  hostile 
to  God*  In  our  chapter  on  the  Origin  of  Evil  (Chapter  II) 
we  show  whence  and  how  such  hostility  exists*  But  as 
the  existence  of  a  world  presupposes  a  Creator,  it  is 
illogical  to  assume  that  Nature,  with  a  capital  N,  is  suffi¬ 
cient  to  itself,  and  entirely  independent*  Yet  this  is 
what  the  so-called  agnostic  teaches*  He  maintains  that 
the  laws  of  nature  explain  all  the  phenomena  of  life,  and 
that,  while  there  may  be  a  God,  yet,  as  He  has  not  thought 
fit  expressly  to  manifest  Himself,  His  existence  or  non¬ 
existence  does  not  concern  us*  There  may  indeed  be  a 
God,  but  as  we  have  no  direct  ponderable  and  measurable 
evidence  of  His  existence,  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
He  is  but  the  figment  of  the  superstitious  imaginations 
of  our  primitive  and  savage  ancestors,  whose  ignorance 
of  natural  science  prevented  them  from  accounting  for 
the  forces  and  phenomena  they  encountered  in  any  other 
way  than  by  assuming  the  existence  of  a  Superior  Being 
who  had  created  and  who  controlled  these  forces  and 
phenomena*  The  discovery  of  the  laws  of  nature  has 
made,  so  the  agnostic  argues,  such  belief  unnecessary* 
Possibly  it  has  never  occurred  to  the  modern  materialist 
that  to  believe  in  a  self-created  world  requires  a  far  greater 


88 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


exercise  of  faith  than  to  believe  in  a  God,  and  that  it  is 
expecting  a  great  deal  from  human  credulity  to  ask  man¬ 
kind  to  suppose  that  the  idea  of  God  was  invented  by 
backward  and  untutored  people  who  were  too  stupid  to 
account  for  the  existence  of  themselves  and  that  of  the 
world  in  any  other  way*  Our  own  experience  of  stupid 
and  backward  people  is  that  they  are  generally  quite 
willing  to  take  things  as  they  find  them,  and  are  little 
troubled  with  philosophic  curiosity  or  introspective 
thought*  However,  there  is  a  quaint  English  proverb 
to  the  effect  that  there  is  no  smoke  without  fire,  which 
we  think  fits  the  case  far  better  than  the  laboured 
arguments  of  learned  materialistic  philosophers* 

In  our  first  chapter  it  was  shown  that  the  universe 
was  created  from  the  Divine  Love  by  the  Divine  Wisdom, 
and  that  the  Divine  Love  and  the  Divine  Wisdom  pro¬ 
ceed  from  the  Lord  in  complete  union  as  one  substance* 
There  is  no  substance  without  form,  therefore  this  union 
is  reproduced  in  a  certain  image  in  every  created  thing* 
Hence  it  is  that  all  things  in  the  universe  have  relation 
to  goodness  and  truth,  or  love  and  wisdom,  or,  in  the 
case  of  perversion,  to  evil  and  falsity* 

Swedenborg  points  out  that  *  it  is  acknowledged  by 
many  that  there  is  only  one  substance,  which  is  also  the 
first,  from  which  all  things  are/  but  that  this  basic  and 
primary  substance  has  not  been  determined*  4  It  is 
thought  to  be  so  simple/  he  says,  4  that  nothing  can  be 
simpler,  and  that  it  may  be  compared  to  a  point  which 
has  no  dimensions,  and  that  from  an  infinite  number  of 
such  points  the  forms  of  dimensions  exist/  The  absurdity 
of  this  idea,  from  a  mathematical  point  of  view,  requires 
no  elaboration*  A  true  mathematical  and  indivisible 
point  has  neither  length,  breadth,  nor  thickness  :  indeed, 
it  is  a  mathematical  abstraction,  and  cannot  exist,  for 
nothing  is  so  small  that  it  cannot  be  conceivably  divided* 
The  grouping  together  of  such  abstractions  is  like  adding 
together  a  number  of  noughts*  You  cannot  produce 
something  by  multiplying  nothing*1  Without  wasting 

1  This  atomic  theory  has  of  late  years  been  superseded  by  one  more 
in  harmony  with  Swedenborg’s  cosmogony. 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  89 

words  over  this  aspect  of  the  idea,  Swedenborg  proceeds, 
in  a  truly  scientific  spirit,  to  expose  its  unsoundness  from 
another.  He  says  :  *  In  proportion  as  a  thing  is  simple  and 
pure,  it  is  full  and  complete.  It  is  on  this  account  that 
the  more  interiorly  any  object  is  inspected,  the  more 
wonderful,  perfect,  and  beautiful  are  the  things  seen  in 
it/  This,  of  course,  is  proved  by  the  microscope,  nor 
should  it  cause  astonishment  when  we  reflect  that,  as 
shown  in  our  first  chapter,  the  first  substance  is  from  the 
spiritual  sun,  which  is  an  emanation  from  the  Lord,  and 
is  the  one  only  substance,  not  being  in  space,  it  is  all 
in  all,  in  the  least  as  well  as  in  the  greatest  things  in  the 
created  universe ;  moreover,  there  are  in  it  infinitely 
more  things  than  can  appear  in  the  substances  thence 
derived. 

As  every  created  thing  is  created  by  the  co-operation 
of  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom  acting  in  union,  it  follows 
that  every  so-created  thing  should  reflect  this  unity,  or 
have  an  inherent  tendency  towards  such  union,  as  exempli¬ 
fied  in  the  instance  of  sex.  This  union  Swedenborg  calls 
the  marriage  of  goodness  and  truth.  He  points  out  that 
goodness  inspired  by  love  must  be  united  to  the  truth  of 
wisdom  before  it  can  become  effective,  and  that  the  truth 
of  wisdom  is  only  effective  in  so  far  as  it  is  united  to 
goodness  flowing  from  love.  The  Lord  is  goodness  itself 
and  truth  itself,  and  these  in  Him  are  one.  Consequently 
these  two  must  also  be  united  in  the  soul,  for  an  inmost 
nature  without  manifestation  is  a  shadowy,  unsubstantial 
thing ;  nor  can  there  be  a  manifestation  unless  there  is 
something  to  manifest.  This  can  be  illustrated  by  the 
act  of  volition.  Volition  without  thought  is  inconceivable. 
The  will  or  the  affection  must  have  an  object,  the  product 
of  knowledge,  perception,  and  thought.  Hence  it  follows 
that  goodness  flowing  from  love,  but  not  united  to  the 
truth  of  wisdom,  is  not  goodness  in  itself,  but  only 
apparent  goodness ;  and  that  the  truth  derived  from 
wisdom,  which  is  not  united  to  goodness  flowing  from 
love,  is  equally  unreal. 

It  is  contrary  to  Divine  order  for  things  to  be  divided, 
and  therefore  the  Lord  is  constantly  separating  the  chaff 


90 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


from  the  wheat*  Things,  including  the  human  soul, 
must  be  either  in  goodness  and  truth  or  in  evil,  and 
simultaneously  in  falsity* 

Man,  however,  during  his  life  on  earth  can  be  at 
once  in  goodness  and  in  falsity,  and  also  simultaneously 
in  evil  and  in  truth  ;  indeed,  he  can  at  one  and  the  same 
time  be  good  and  evil,  and  can  thus  be,  as  in  fact  he 
frequently  is,  a  dual  personality*  But  man  was  created 
in  the  image  of  God,  and  such  duality  and  division 
destroys  that  image,  thus  also  destroying  the  man*  While 
the  Lord  is  constantly  operating  against  this  duality  and 
division,  He,  nevertheless,  for  the  sake  of  man's  salvation, 
permits  it*  For  man's  understanding  can  be  elevated 
into  the  light  of  wisdom,  in  which  he  can  see  the  highest 
truths  while  his  love  or  affections  remain  below,  base  and 
sordid,  because  he  is  endowed  with  the  faculties  of 
rationality  and  liberty,  by  which  alone  he  can  be  regener¬ 
ated  and  saved*  At  the  same  time,  the  Lord's  Divine 
Providence  is  continually  operating  to  bring  about  in 
man  the  union  of  goodness  and  truth,  this  union  being 
the  Church  and  Heaven,  for  it  is  in  the  Lord  and  in  every¬ 
thing  proceeding  from  Him* 

This  union  of  goodness  and  truth  is  provided  for  by 
relation,  for  the  quality  of  goodness  can  only  be  recognised 
by  its  relation  to  what  is  less  good,  and  by  opposition  to 
evil.  There  is  variety  in  everything  from  its  greatest  to 
its  least,  and  also  in  its  opposite  from  its  least  to  its 
greatest,  and  thus  an  equilibrium  is  formed,  and,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  degrees  in  both  directions,  relation  is  established 
and  perception  or  sensation  increases  or  diminishes*  The 
union  of  goodness  and  truth  is  also  effected  by  purifica¬ 
tion,  either  through  temptation  or  through  fermentation* 
Spiritual  temptations  are  purely  combats  against  the  evils 
and  falsities  exhaled  from  hell ;  by  them  man  is  purified 
from  evils  and  falsities,  goodness  being  joined  to  truth 
and  truth  to  goodness  within  him*  Spiritual  fermenta¬ 
tions  are  evils  and  corresponding  falsities,  which,  by  being 
let  into  societies,  act  like  ferments  introduced  into  meal 
and  certain  liquors  by  means  of  which  heterogeneous 
things  are  separated  and  homogeneous  things  conjoined, 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  91 

purified,  and  clarified*  Hence  our  Lord  compared  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  leaven* 

It  is  from  the  conjunction  of  evil  and  falsity  that  these 
uses  are  effected,  for  even  the  inhabitants  of  hell  are 
made  to  perform  uses ;  the  Kingdom  of  the  Lord,  which 
is  a  kingdom  of  uses,  being  not  only  over  Heaven,  but 
also  over  hell* 

The  Lord  did  not  create  the  universe  for  its  own  sake, 
but  for  the  sake  of  those  with  whom  He  will  dwell  in 
Heaven*  It  is  in  the  nature  of  spiritual  love  to  wish 
to  bestow  what  it  has  on  others,  and  in  proportion  as  it 
can  give  effect  to  this  desire  it  is  in  its  inmost  nature,  in 
its  peace  and  blessedness*  As  spiritual  love  derives  from 
Divine  Love,  it  follows  that  the  Divine  Providence  has 
for  its  end  a  Heaven  consisting  of  men  become  angels, 
on  whom  the  Lord  can  bestow  all  the  beatitudes  and 
felicities  proper  to  love  and  wisdom  out  of  Himself  into 
them*  Nor  can  He  do  otherwise,  for  His  image  and  like¬ 
ness  are  in  them  from  creation.  His  image  in  them  is 
Wisdom  and  His  likeness  in  them  is  Love* 

Of  the  things  which  proceed  from  the  Lord  the 
Divine  Providence  is  primary,  for  this  is  continually 
in  the  end  for  which  the  universe  was  created*  The 
operation  and  progression  of  the  end  by  this  means  is, 
Swedenborg  tells  us,  the  Divine  Providence,  and  con¬ 
sequently  to  act  against  the  laws  of  the  Divine  Providence 
would,  for  the  Lord,  be  to  act  against  Himself*  Indeed, 
the  Lord  is  Providence,  just  as  God  is  Order,  and  the 
Divine  Providence  is  the  Divine  Order,  primarily  respect¬ 
ing  human  salvation*  Now,  there  is  no  order  without 
laws,  for  laws  constitute  order,  and  every  law  is  also 
order :  consequently,  as  God  is  Order,  He  is  also  the  law 
of  His  own  order  ;  moreover,  as  the  Lord  is  His  own 
Providence,  He  is  also  the  law  of  His  own  Providence* 
Thus  the  logical  conclusion  follows  that  the  Lord  cannot 
act  against  the  laws  of  His  Providence,  because,  if  He 
did,  He  would  be  acting  against  Himself*  All  operation 
involves  a  subject  and  means*  The  subject  of  the  Divine 
Providence  is  man,  the  means.  Divine  truths  which  impart 
wisdom,  and  Divine  goods  which  confer  love*  By  these 


92 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


means  the  Divine  Providence  operates  its  end,  which  is 
human  salvation*  This  Divine  work  begins  at  man's 
birth,  continues  throughout  his  earthly  life,  and  afterwards 
to  eternity* 

Here,  in  illustration  of  this  thesis,  we  feel  constrained 
to  quote  the  following  beautiful  passage  from  Swedenborg's 
*  Divine  Providence  '  (sect*  332)  : 

It  was  shown  above  that  a  Heaven  out  of  the  human  race  is 
the  very  end  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  ;  that  this  end,  in 
its  operation  and  progression,  is  the  Divine  Providence  for  the 
salvation  of  men  ;  and  that  all  things  which  are  out  of  man  and 
serve  for  his  use  are  secondary  ends  of  creation  which  in  the 
aggregate  have  relation  to  all  things  that  exist  in  the  three 
kingdoms — the  animal,  vegetable  and  mineral*  When  these 
things  constantly  proceed  according  to  the  laws  of  Divine  order 
established  at  their  first  creation,  how  can  the  primary  end, 
which  is  the  salvation  of  the  human  race,  proceed  otherwise 
than  constantly  according  to  the  laws  of  its  order,  which  are 
the  laws  of  the  Divine  Providence  i 

Only  observe  a  fruit  tree  ;  does  it  not  first  spring  from  a 
small  seed  as  a  tender  germ,  afterwards  grow  successively  into 
a  stalk,  spread  forth  its  branches,  which  are  then  covered  with 
leaves,  and  afterwards  put  forth  flowers  and  bear  fruit,  wherein 
it  deposits  new  seeds,  by  which  it  provides  for  its  perpetuation  i 
It  is  the  same  with  every  shrub  and  herb  of  the  field*  Do  not 
all  and  everything  therein  constantly  and  wonderfully  proceed 
according  to  the  laws  of  their  order  from  end  to  end  i 

Why,  then,  should  not  the  primary  end,  which  is  a  Heaven 
out  of  the  human  race,  do  the  same  i  Can  anything  possibly 
take  place  in  its  progression,  which  does  not  most  constantly 
proceed  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Divine  Providence  i  ♦  ♦  ♦ 

A  man's  infancy  may  be  compared  to  the  tender  germ  of  a 
tree  springing  out  of  the  earth  from  the  seed  ;  his  childhood 
and  youth,  to  that  germ  increasing  to  a  stem  and  branches  ; 
natural  truths,  which  every  man  first  imbibes,  to  the  leaves 
with  which  its  branches  are  covered  *  *  *  a  man's  initiation 
into  the  marriage  of  good  and  truth,  or  the  spiritual  marriage, 
to  the  flowers  which  that  tree  produces  in  the  spring-time, 
spiritual  truths  being  the  small  leaves  of  those  flowers  ;  the 
first  fruits  of  the  spiritual  marriage,  to  the  beginnings  of  the 
fruit ;  spiritual  good,  which  are  the  goods  of  charity,  to  the 
fruit  *  .  ♦  the  procreations  of  wisdom  from  love,  to  the  seeds, 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  93 

by  means  of  which  procreations  a  man  becomes  like  a  garden 
and  a  paradise* 

A  man  is  also  described  in  the  Word  by  a  tree ,  and  his 
wisdom  from  love  by  a  garden*  Nothing  else  is  signified  by  the 
Garden  of  Eden* 

A  man  indeed  is  an  evil  tree  from  the  seed  ;  but  yet  there 
is  provided  an  ingrafting  or  inoculating  of  branches  taken  from 
the  tree  of  life,  by  which  the  juices  drawn  from  the  old  root 
are  converted  into  such  as  produce  good  fruit*  This  com¬ 
parison  is  made,  in  order  that  it  may  be  known  that  when  there 
is  so  constant  a  progression  of  the  Divine  Providence  in  the 
vegetation  and  regeneration  of  trees,  it  must  by  all  means  be 
constant  in  the  reformation  and  regeneration  of  men,  who  are 
of  much  more  value  than  trees,  according  to  the  words  of  the 
Lord*  *  *  *  (See  Luke  xii*  6,  7-25-28.) 

This  passage  is  so  illuminative,  that  one  feels  nothing 
remains  to  be  said  concerning  this  vast  subject,  the 
governance  of  the  world*  What,  indeed,  is  it  all  about  i 
What  is  the  riddle  of  the  universe  i  It  is  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  the  constant  effort  of  God  to  produce 
happiness,  and  to  make  His  creatures  eternally  blessed* 
If  it  were  to  be  put  in  terms  of  material  science,  the 
resultant  idea  would  be  misleading  in  so  far  as  that  it 
would  be  wanting  in  reverence,  yet  it  might  serve  as  an 
illustration,  a  pale  shadow-picture,  of  the  real  and 
wonderful  perpetual  miracle  of  cosmic  life*  Let  us  try 
to  express  the  conception  of  Divine  Providence  in 
scientific  language*  God  is  the  source  of  all  energy  and 
force,  for  He  is  energy  and  force  itself*  This  energy  and 
force  is  constantly  emanating  and  being  gradually  chilled, 
as  it  were ;  the  emanation  thus  ceases  to  be  Divine,  and 
is  slowly  converted  into  matter  :  into  this  matter,  now 
become  a  waste-product,  as  it  were,  the  Divine  energy 
again  enters  to  vivify  and  regenerate,  and  thus  to  rejoin 
with  Himself  in  Heaven  the  human  beings  whom  He  has 
created*  The  Divine  purpose  is  that  every  being  on 
earth  and  in  the  world  of  spirits  should  be  happy,  but 
happiness  can  only  be  enjoyed  in  freedom*  Slavery  and 
compulsion  are  incompatible  with  true  happiness,  hence 
man  must  be  free*  In  consequence  of  that  freedom  and 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


94 

the  growth  of  self-love,  which,  as  has  been  explained  in 
a  former  chapter,  is  an  indispensable  ingredient  in  human 
nature,  man  has  fallen  ;  he  is  to-day  surrounded  by  evil 
spirits,  whose  perverted  energies — for  life  having  been 
once  imparted  to  them  continues  and  is  indestructible 
even  as  matter  is  indestructible — seek  to  destroy  and  to 
bring  unhappiness  on,  not  only  man  and  his  eternal  soul, 
but  the  whole  created  universe,  such  is  the  wickedness 
of  self-love  when  it  is  made  the  ruling  principle* 

The  Divine  Providence,  both  immediately  and  medi¬ 
ately  through  the  agency  of  Heaven,  is  perpetually 
restraining  these  evil  forces  from  effecting  their  fell 
purpose*  But  occasionally  the  local  conditions,  if  one 
may  so  express  oneself,  become  such  as  to  facilitate  the 
efforts  of  the  powers  of  hell,  or  to  necessitate  calamities 
in  order  to  destroy  the  results  of  their  efforts  :  thus  we 
have  occasionally  terrible  catastrophes,  wars,  earthquakes, 
and  similar  visitations — those  do  not  emanate  immediately 
from  the  Divine,  they  are  only  permitted,  not  prevented, 
in  order  to  save  the  human  race  ultimately* 

Some  people  have  argued  that  it  is  impossible  for 
God  to  attend  to  every  detail  in  the  universe,  that  He 
has  established  general  laws,  but  that  like  an  autocrat  He 
entrusts  their  administration  to  subordinates,  to  angels, 
and  moreover,  that  He  cannot  be  expected  to  look  after 
every  detail — that,  in  short,  while  there  is  a  general 
Providence,  there  is  no  particular  Providence*  This 
Swedenborg  denies  :  he  shows  that,  whilst  God  is  outside 
time  and  space.  He  is  nevertheless  everywhere,  and  His 
force  or  energy,  even  when  perverted,  in  everything* 
Thus  there  is  a  particular  Providence  over  every  little 
thing,  and  every  individual,  at  the  same  time  as  there  is 
a  general  Providence*  Speaking  of  what  we  call  luck  or 
fortune,  he  says  : 

Who  does  not  speak  of  fortune  i  And  who  since  he  speaks 
of  it,  and  since  he  knows  something  of  it  from  experience,  does 
not  acknowledge  it  i  Yet  who  knows  what  it  is  i  That  it  is 
something  cannot  be  denied,  for  it  is  real  and  is  ordained  ;  and 
nothing  can  really  exist  and  be  ordained  without  a  cause*  But 
the  cause  of  this  something,  or  fortune,  is  unknown*  And  lest 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  95 

it  should  be  denied,  from  mere  ignorance  of  the  cause,  take  dice 
or  playing  cards,  and  play  ;  or  consult  players.  Who  of  them 
denies  fortune  i  For  they  play  with  it,  and  it  with  them, 
wonderfully.  Who  can  strive  against  it,  if  it  be  obstinate  i 
Does  it  not  then  laugh  at  prudence  and  wisdom  i  Is  it  not, 
while  you  shake  the  dice  and  shuffle  the  cards,  as  if  it  knew  and 
disposed  of  the  movements  and  turnings  of  the  joints  of  the 
hand,  to  favour  one  more  than  another  for  some  cause  i  Can 
there  be  a  cause  from  elsewhere  than  the  Divine  Providence  in 
ultimates,  where  by  means  of  certainties  and  uncertainties  it 
deals  wonderfully  with  human  prudence,  and  at  the  same  time 
conceals  itself  i  It  is  known  that  the  heathen  anciently  acknow¬ 
ledged  Fortune  (as  a  god)  and  built  a  temple  to  it,  as  did  also 
the  Italians  at  Rome.  Respecting  this  Fortune — which  as  was 
said  is  the  Divine  Providence  in  ultimates — it  has  been  given 
to  me  to  know  many  things  that  I  am  not  permitted  to  make 
public,  from  which  it  was  evident  to  me,  that  it  is  no  illusion  of 
the  mind,  nor  freak  of  nature  ;  nor  anything  without  a  cause, 
for  this  is  nothing  ;  but  that  it  is  ocular  evidence  that  the  Divine 
Providence  is  in  the  very  least  particulars  of  the  thoughts  of 
men.  Since  there  is  a  Divine  Providence  in  the  very  least 
particulars  of  things  so  trivial  and  unimportant,  why  not  in  the 
very  least  particulars  of  things  not  trivial  and  unimportant, 
such  as  the  affairs  of  peace  and  war  in  the  world,  and  matters 
pertaining  to  salvation  and  life  in  Heaven  i 

In  another  passage  he  explains  the  occurrence  of 
accidents. 

Unfortunate  accidents  occur  when  the  sphere  or 
emanation  of  evil  spirits  prevails.  These  contrive  to 
produce  a  sphere  from  which  unfortunate  circumstances 
arise  as  though  by  chance.  But  all  things,  even  to  the 
least  particulars  of  the  least  of  all,  are  directed  by  the 
Lord's  Providence,  but  when  a  sphere  antagonistic  or 
contrary  thereto  prevails  misfortunes  occur. 

All  evils,  even  those  that  occur  by  accident,  come  from  hell. 
Of  this  the  infernals  are  ignorant ;  they  nevertheless  burst 
forth  from  them.  For  the  inmost  and  interior  Heaven,  as 
media  or  mediations,  dispose  and  administer  the  things  which 
are  foreseen  and  provided  by  God,  the  Messiah,  because  they 
are  salutary  to  the  human  race.  These,  with  men  who  trust 
in  themselves  and  indulge  in  the  loves  of  self  and  the  world,  are 


96  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

immediately  changed  into  evils — also  into  accidents.  Thus 
there  is  not  even  the  least  evil  which  befalls  man  which  does 
not  break  forth  from  hell. 

With  regard  to  war,  Swedenborg  says  : 

It  is  not  from  Divine  Providence  that  wars  exist ;  for  they 
are  connected  with  murders,  plunderings,  acts  of  violence, 
cruelties,  and  other  enormous  evils  which  are  diametrically 
opposed  to  Christian  charity.  And  yet  they  cannot  but  be 
permitted,  because  the  life's  love  (ruling  passion)  of  men,  since 
the  Most  Ancient,  who  are  meant  by  Adam  and  his  wife,  has 
become  such  that  it  desires  to  rule  over  others,  and  at  length 
over  all,  and  desires  to  possess  the  wealth  of  the  world,  and 
finally  all  wealth.  These  two  loves  cannot  be  kept  in  bounds, 
since  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  Divine  Providence  that  every 
one  should  be  permitted  to  act  from  freedom  according  to 
reason  ;  and  since  without  permission  man  cannot  be  led  by 
the  Lord  from  evil,  thus  cannot  be  reformed  and  saved.  For  if 
evils  were  not  permitted  to  break  out,  man  would  not  see  them, 
and  so  could  not  be  led  to  resist  them.  Hence  it  is  that  evils 
cannot  be  repressed  by  any  Providence  ;  for  thus  they  would 
remain  shut  in,  and,  like  the  disease  called  cancer,  and  gangrene, 
would  spread  and  consume  all  that  is  vital  in  man.  ...  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  there  are  wars,  greater  and  less  ;  the  less 
between  possessors  of  estates  and  their  neighbours,  and  the 
greater  between  the  monarchs  of  kingdoms  and  their  neigh¬ 
bours,  .  .  .  There  are  many  causes  .  ♦  .  why  the  greater 
wars — because  they  are  connected  with  murders,  plunderings, 
acts  of  violence  and  deeds  of  cruelty — are  not  repressed  by  the 
Lord.  .  .  . 

Swedenborg  then  proceeds^  to  explain  that  all  wars 
on  earth,  however  political  they  may  appear,  are  repre¬ 
sentative  in  Heaven  of  states  of  the  Church.  All  the  wars 
described  in  the  Bible  are  thus  representative,  for  the 
children  of  Israel  represented  the  Church,  and  when  they 
transgressed  and  fell  into  the  evils  signified  by  the 
Amorites,  Ammonites,  Moabites,  Philistines,  Syrians,  they 
were  punished  by  the  nation  representing  the  particular 
evil  they  had  committed.  It  is  not  known  in  the  world 
to-day  what  kingdoms  in  Christendom  represent  these 
nations,  yet  they  are  represented.  Nor  do  we  know  the 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  97 

character  of  the  Church  on  earth,  nor  the  evils  into  which 
it  is  falling  on  account  of  which  it  is  punished  by  wars* 
But  all  this  is  clearly  seen  in  the  spiritual  world*  The 
spiritual  man  acknowledges  that  the  wars  in  the  world 
are  governed  by  Divine  Providence,  but  not  so  the 
natural  man,  who,  although  he  may  give  outward  thanks 
to  God  for  a  victory,  and  pray  for  success  before  going 
into  battle,  yet  in  his  heart  attributes  his  victories  to  his 
generals  and  their  strategy  and  tactics*  Nevertheless  it  is 
usual  to  talk  of  the  fortune  of  war,  and  this,  Swedenborg 
maintains,  is  the  Divine  Providence  acting  through  the 
generals,  etc*  A  general  is  at  full  liberty  to  ascribe  his 
success  to  his  own  initiative  or  ingenuity,  but  Swedenborg 
asseverates  *  that  no  jot  of  his  plan  and  deliberation  is 
from  himself*  It  all  flows  in  either  from  Heaven  or 
from  hell — from  hell  by  permission,  from  Heaven  by 
Providence** 

And  yet  it  often  appears  that  victory  is  achieved  by 
human  prudence,  and  that  justice  is  not  always  trium¬ 
phant,  nor  does  the  character  of  the  general  apparently 
affect  the  issue*  Bad  men  have  been  known  to  be  not 
only  brilliant  but  successful  generals*  But  we  are  not 
competent  to  judge,  for  we  necessarily  look  at  these 
matters  with  earthly  eyes,  nor  can  we  truthfully  main¬ 
tain  an  absolute  impartiality ;  whilst  in  Heaven  the 
spiritual  point  of  view  is  the  only  one  that  matters*  Who 
shall  say  that  it  may  not  be  better,  in  some  cases,  for  a 
nation  to  be  defeated,  and  thus  chastened,  than  to  be 
victorious  i  Was  it  not  that  great  military  expert,  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  who  maintained  that  nothing  was  so 
demoralising  as  a  victory,  except,  perhaps,  a  defeat  i 

With  regard  to  the  vices  and  virtues  of  generals  the 
following  passage  from  *  The  Divine  Providence  *  (sect* 
250)  will  exhibit  how  Swedenborg  regards  the  somewhat 
perplexing  problem  of  the  apparent  prosperity  of  the 
wicked  in  this  world*  He  begins  by  pointing  out  that  the 
carnally  minded  man,  *  the  worshipper  of  self  and  of 
nature/  regards  dignities  and  riches  as  the  only  real 
essential  felicities*  If  he  has  been  brought  up  religiously 
he  will  call  them  Divine  blessings,  and  worship  God  and 

H 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


98 

pray  for  more,  but  as  he  advances  in  the  world  his  devo¬ 
tion  diminishes,  until  he  finally  makes  no  account  of 
God,  and  even  denies  Him ;  even  if  he  incurs  losses  and 
misfortune  the  result  is  the  same*  4  To  the  wicked, 
then/  Swedenborg  asks,  4  what  are  dignities  and  riches 
but  stumbling-blocks  i  Not  so  to  the  good,  because  they 
do  not  place  their  hearts  thereon,  but  on  the  uses  or 
goods,  for  the  doing  of  which  dignities  and  riches  serve 
as  means,'  He  then  asserts,  what  is  generally  admitted, 
*  that  the  impious  and  evil  equally  with  the  pious  or  good 
can  perform  uses  ' ;  but  he  emphasises  that  they  do  so 
4  from  a  more  ardent  force,  for  they  have  regard  to  them¬ 
selves  in  uses,  and  regard  honours  as  uses.  In  the  degree, 
therefore,  that  the  love  of  self  rises,  the  lust  of  performing 
uses  for  the  sake  of  their  own  glory  is  enkindled.  There 
is  no  such  fire  with  the  pious  or  good,  unless  it  is  fomented 
beneath  by  honour.  The  Lord  therefore  governs  the 
impious  in  heart  who  are  in  dignities  through  the  celebrity 
of  their  name,  and  excites  them  to  perform  uses  to  the 
state,  etc.  This  is  the  Lord's  government,  which  is 
called  the  Divine  Providence,  with  such.  For  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Lord  is  a  kingdom  of  uses ;  and  when 
there  are  but  few  who  perform  uses  for  the  sake  of  uses 
He  causes  worshippers  of  self  to  be  exalted  to  the  more 
conspicuous  offices,  in  which  they  are  all  excited  by  self- 
love  to  do  good,'  Swedenborg  then  asks  his  readers 
to  ascertain  how  many  people  who  aspire  to  dignities 
are  not  selfish  and  ambitious,  or,  as  he  puts  it,  *  lovers 
of  themselves  and  the  world  '  i  *  Will  you  find  fifty 
in  a  thousand,'  he  asks,  4  who  are  lovers  of  God  i  And 
among  these  there  are  but  few  who  aspire  to  dignities,' 

We  all  know  from  personal  experience  that  ambition 
is  a  curse,  and  how  often  have  we  not  heard  the  regret 
expressed  that  So-and-So  had  not  4  a  spice  of  the  devil 
in  him  '  i  He  was  too  tame,  too  good  to  get  on.  It 
does  not  follow  that  the  good  man  is  irresolute,  but  he 
does  not  attach  the  same  importance  to  worldly  advance¬ 
ment  as  the  selfish  man. 

There  is  a  passage  in 4  The  Divine  Wisdom '  on  the  origin 
of  dignities  and  riches  which  we  feel  constrained  to  quote  : 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  99 

Dignities  and  riches  were  totally  different  in  the  earliest 
ages  from  what  they  afterwards  and  successively  became. 
Dignities  in  the  most  ancient  times  were  no  other  than  such  as 
exist  among  parents  and  their  children,  which  were  dignities 
of  love  full  of  respect  and  veneration  in  the  latter  for  the  former, 
not  because  they  received  from  them  birth,  but  because  the 
former  gave  them  instruction  and  wisdom,  which  is  a  second 
birth,  in  itself  spiritual,  because  it  was  the  birth  of  their  spirit. 
This  was  the  only  dignity  in  the  earliest  ages,  because  then 
nations,  families  and  houses  dwelt  separately,  and  were  not 
formed  into  kingdoms  as  in  the  present  day.  It  was  the  father 
of  the  family  in  whom  dignity  resided.  Those  times  were 
called  by  the  ancients  the  golden  age.  After  those  times, 
however,  the  love  of  governing,  from  the  sole  delight  of  that 
love,  successively  crept  in ;  and  because  enmity  and  hostility 
against  those  who  would  not  submit  arose  at  the  same  time, 
therefore  nations,  families,  and  houses  assembled  themselves 
together,  from  necessity,  and  set  over  themselves  one  whom  at 
first  they  called  a  judge,  afterwards  a  prince,  and  lastly  a  king 
and  an  emperor.  Then  also  they  began  to  fortify  themselves 
by  towers,  bulwarks,  and  walls.  From  the  judge,  prince,  king 
or  emperor,  as  from  the  head  into  the  body,  a  lust  of  dominion 
spread  itself  like  a  contagion  among  many,  and  thence  arose 
degrees  of  dignities,  with  honours  conformable  to  them ;  and 
with  them  self-love,  and  the  pride  of  self-derived  prudence. 
The  case  was  similar  with  regard  to  the  love  of  riches.  In  the 
most  ancient  times,  when  nations  and  families  dwelt  distinctly 
from  each  other,  there  was  no  other  love  of  riches  than  that  of 
possessing  the  necessaries  of  life,  which  they  procured  for  them¬ 
selves  by  flocks  and  herds,  and  by  fields,  pastures,  and  gardens 
from  which  they  derived  subsistence.  Among  their  necessaries 
of  life  were  also  reckoned  decent  houses,  furnished  with  the 
requisite  utensils,  and  likewise  clothing.  The  care  and  manage¬ 
ment  of  all  these  things  was  the  business  of  the  parents,  children, 
men-servants,  and  maid-servants  in  the  house.  But  after  the 
love  of  dominion  began  to  prevail,  and  destroyed  this  state  of 
society,  the  love  of  possessing  wealth  beyond  their  necessities 
also  invaded  mankind,  and  grew  to  such  a  height  as  to  produce 
a  desire  of  possessing  the  wealth  of  all.  These  two  loves  are 
connected,  as  it  were,  by  consanguinity  ;  for  he  who  desires  to 
rule  over  all,  desires  also  to  possess  everything,  so  that  everybody 
may  become  his  servant,  and  he  the  sole  lord  and  master. 

If  the  Divine  Providence  governs  wars  it  seems  obvious 


100 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


that  the  religions  in  the  world  must  also  be  under  Divine 
Providence,  yet  the  existence  of  a  variety  of  religions 
has  often  been  a  stumbling-block  to  the  pious.  The 
materialist  goes  further :  he  says  there  cannot  be  any 
one  true  religion  seeing  that  there  are  so  many  various 
professions  of  faith.  If  there  were  a  God,  the  materialist 
argues,  surely  He  would  take  pains  to  manifest  Himself 
and  to  ensure  that  there  was  only  one  true  religion  which 
would  be  confessed  by  all.  Yet  our  Lord  has  told  us 
that  there  are  many  mansions  in  Heaven,  and  if  we  take 
an  illustration  from  nature  we  shall  perhaps  understand 
the  mystery  of  the  diversity  of  creeds  a  little  better.  All 
objects  obtain  their  light  from  the  material  sun,  which 
is  the  source  of  colour,  yet  the  flowers  and  all  natural 
objects  reflect  it  differently :  some  flowers  are  red,  some 
are  white,  some  yellow,  and  yet  these  colours  are  all 
true  colours  and  are  all  derived  from  the  sun.  We  are 
enjoined  to  remove  the  beam  from  our  own  eye  before 
we  venture  to  remove  the  mote  from  our  brother's  eye, 
and  everybody  who  acts  within  his  lights,  as  we  colloquially 
and  correctly  express  it,  is  justified  in  the  sight  of  God. 
What  we  must  guard  against  is  the  perversion  of  truth, 
the  introduction  of  error  and  falsity  in  religion,  and 
these  arise  from  our  own  perversity,  our  own  self-hood, 
our  intense  self-love  which  blinds  our  eyes  to  the  truth 
and  offers  culture-beds  for  the  incubation  of  heresies 
and  false  doctrines  in  our  minds  which  evil  spirits,  with 
whom  we  place  ourselves  in  direct  relation  when  we 
cherish  the  phantasies  of  self-love,  are  ever  ready  to 
propagate.  We  have  nothing  from  ourselves,  not  even 
religion ;  this  is  imparted  to  us,  and  it  is  according  to 
our  voluntary  reception  of  the  religion  we  receive  and 
the  sincerity  with  which  we  carry  out  its  teachings  in 
our  lives  that  our  salvation  is  achieved. 

Again  we  must  quote  Swedenborg.  He  says  : 

The  Lord  might  heal  the  understanding  in  every  man,  and 
thus  cause  him  not  to  meditate  evil  but  good.  This  He  might 
do  by  various  fears,  by  miracles,  by  converse  with  the  departed, 
and  by  visions  and  dreams.  But  to  heal  the  understanding 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  ioi 


only,  is  merely  to  heal  man  outwardly ;  for  the  understanding 
with  its  thought  is  the  external  of  man's  life,  the  internal  of  his 
life  is  the  will  with  its  affection* 

It  is  the  will  that  has  to  be  healed,  and  that  cannot 
be  effected  by  sudden  miracle,  but  only  by  slow  training 
in  full  freedom ;  for  a  compulsory  reformation  is  no 
reformation  at  all* 

Here  is  another  passage  from  Swedenborg  : 

The  angelic  heaven  before  the  Lord  is  as  one  man,  whose 
soul  and  life  is  the  Lord*  ♦  ♦  .  Now  it  is  provided  by  the  Lord 
that  even  they  to  whom  the  gospel  could  not  come,  but  only  a 
religion,  might  also  have  a  place  in  that  Divine  man,  that  is, 
in  heaven — by  constituting  those  parts  which  are  called  inte¬ 
guments,  membranes,  cartilages,  and  bones — and  that  they 
like  the  others  be  in  heavenly  joy*  For  it  is  not  a  matter  of 
concern  whether  they  are  in  such  joy  as  is  felt  by  the  angels  of 
the  highest  heaven  ;  or  in  such  as  is  felt  by  the  angels  of  the 
lowest  heaven ;  for  every  one  who  comes  into  heaven  comes 
into  the  greatest  joy  of  his  heart*  A  greater  joy  he  could  not 
endure,  for  he  would  be  suffocated  in  it*  *  *  *  From  which  it 
is  plain  that  for  the  last  as  well  as  the  first  there  is  heavenly 
happiness — for  each  in  his  degree*  So  it  is  also  with  those  who 
are  outside  the  Christian  world,  provided  they  shun  evils  as 
sins  against  God*  *  .  ♦  There  are  few  who  are  totally  ignorant 
of  God.  But  even  these,  if  they  have  lived  a  moral  life,  are 
instructed  by  the  angels  after  death,  and  receive  a  spiritual 
principle  into  their  moral  life*  So  with  those  who  worship  the 
sun  and  moon  and  believe  God  to  be  there*  They  know  no 
otherwise  ;  therefore  this  is  not  imputed  to  them  as  sin*  For 
the  Lord  says  : — *  If  ye  were  blind,'  that  is  if  they  did  not  know, 
*  ye  should  have  no  sin.'  (John  ix*  41.)  And  there  are  many 
even  in  the  Christian  world  who  worship  idols  and  graven 
images.  This  in  truth  is  idolatrous,  but  not  with  all ;  for  there 
are  those  to  whom  graven  images  serve  as  a  means  of  awakening 
thought  concerning  God.  For  it  is  owing  to  influx  from  heaven 
that  he  who  acknowledges  God  desires  to  see  Him ;  and  as 
those  cannot,  like  interior  spiritual  men,  lift  the  mind  above 
sensual  things,  therefore  this  is  effected  by  a  graven  image  or 
picture*  They  who  do  this  and  do  not  worship  the  image 
itself  as  God,  if  also  from  religion  they  live  the  precepts  of 
the  Decalogue,  are  saved*  From  these  considerations  it  is 


102 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


clear  that,  as  God  wills  the  salvation  of  all,  He  has  also 
provided  that  every  one,  if  he  lives  well,  may  have  some  place 
in  heaven* 

The  Mahomedan  religion  may  be  taken  as  an  illustra¬ 
tion  of  the  ways  of  Divine  Providence*  According  to 
Swedenborg  this  religion  was  raised  by  Divine  Providence 
for  the  destruction  of  idolatry,  which  had  become  common 
throughout  the  whole  earth*  Before  the  Lord's  advent 
all  churches  were  representative  and  their  rites  symbolical, 
as  in  the  case,  for  instance,  of  the  Israelitish  Church* 
The  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  afford  an  eloquent  testimony 
of  this.  Gradually,  as  the  knowledge  of  the  meaning 
of  the  symbolic  rites  faded  from  the  grossly  material 
minds  of  the  degenerate  descendants,  the  latter  worshipped 
the  things  themselves  and  thus  idolatries  arose ;  more¬ 
over,  religions  having  a  reflex  action,  and  being  a  reflexion 
of  the  states  of  its  professors,  as  men  became  more  material 
and  self-centred,  idolatry  was  the  natural  outward 
expression  of  their  internal  condition*  Thus  it  has  been 
noticed  in  our  own  times  that  so-called  atheists  are  prone 
to  superstition*  In  order  to  extirpate  this  universal 
idolatry,  the  Divine  Providence  brought  about  the  appear¬ 
ance  of  a  new  religion  adapted  to  the  Oriental  mentality, 
which  should  contain  some  of  the  teachings  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  and  should  teach  that  the  Lord 
came  into  the  world,  and  was  the  greatest  Prophet,  the 
wisest  of  men,  and  the  Son  of  God.  This  was 
accomplished  through  Mahomet*  The  Christian  religion, 
which  existed  at  first  in  Europe  only,  would  not  have 
been  received  by  the  Orientals,  who,  for  one  thing,  had 
been  polygamists  for  ages* 

The  Protestant  religion  is  another  instance  of  Divine 
permission*  We  are  told  by  Swedenborg  that  it  was  the 
result  of  the  action  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which 
practically  prohibited  the  reading  of  the  Bible* 

Swedenborg  shows  that  dissensions  and  heresies  are 
inevitable,  because  many  statements  and  records  in  the 
Bible  are  appearances  of  truth,  and  not  naked  truths* 
Many  are  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  natural, 


THE  GOVERNANCE  OF  THE  WORLD  103 

and  even  the  sensual  man,  but  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  can  be  understood  by  the  meanest  intelligence, 
whilst  the  intellectual  can  understand  them  intellectually, 
and  the  wise  can  understand  their  wisdom*  Conse¬ 
quently  appearances  of  truths,  which  are  truths  clothed, 
can  be  taken  for  naked  truths  which,  when  they  are  con¬ 
firmed,  become  errors  or  falsities*  Such  perversion  of 
truth  is,  of  course,  effected  only  by  people  whose  strong 
egotism  leads  them  to  take  a  pride  in  their  own  intellect* 
Hence  heresies  arise.  But,  Swedenborg  is  careful  to  ex¬ 
plain,  heresies  do  not  of  themselves  condemn  ;  it  is  an  evil 
life  confirmed  by  heresies  from  the  Bible  and  by  reason¬ 
ings  from  natural  desires  which  condemn*  Heresies 
are  more  prevalent  when  a  church  attaches  importance 
to  doctrine  rather  than  to  life,  for  then  man  is  in  darkness 
and  stumbles  into  pitfalls*  For  the  understanding  must 
be  led  by  life  and  love  to  think,  speak  and  act,  and  vice 
versa — that  is  to  say,  the  will  should  not  be  led  by  the 
understanding,  otherwise  evil  desires  might  seize  upon 
whatever  impressed  it  through  the  senses,  and  enjoin  the 
will  to  do  it* 

We  will  conclude  this  chapter  with  another  quotation  : 

The  Divine  Providence  [says  Swedenborg]  operates 
invisibly  and  incomprehensibly  in  order  that  man  may  be  able 
to  ascribe  [whatever  occurs]  freely  either  to  Providence  or  to 
chance*  For  if  Providence  were  to  act  visibly  and  compre¬ 
hensibly,  there  would  be  danger  that  a  man  might  after 
believing  a  thing  to  be  providential  come  into  the  opposite 
belief.  Truth  and  falsity  would  thus  be  joined  in  the  interior 
man,  and  the  truth  would  be  profaned.  ♦  ♦  ♦  Such  a  man  is 
therefore  rather  kept  in  unbelief,  than  that  he  should  once  be 
in  faith  and  then  recede  from  it*  *  .  ♦  And  hence  it  is  that  at 
this  day  no  miracles  are  wrought ;  for  these,  like  all  visible 
and  comprehensible  things,  would  constrain  men  to  believe, 
and  whatever  constrains  takes  away  freedom ;  whereas  all 
reformation  and  regeneration  of  man  is  effected  in  his  freedom* 
Whatever  is  not  implanted  in  freedom  does  not  remain.  ♦  ♦  ♦ 
That  at  this  day  man  is  expected  to  believe  what  he  does  not 
see  is  shown  by  the  Lord's  words  to  Thomas,  in  John  : — 
*  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  me  thou  hast  believed  ; 
blessed  are  they  that  do  not  see,  and  yet  believe.'  (xx.  29*) 


CHAPTER  VI 
Revelation 


If  the  purpose  of  creation  is  to  people  Heaven  with  human 
souls  in  order  to  make  them  eternally  happy,  it  follows 
that  there  must  be  some  means  by  which  human  souls 
can  be  drawn  to  God  and  can  be  instructed  in  truth*  In 
other  words,  it  is  inconceivable  that  God  in  His  solicitude 
for  the  eternal  welfare  of  His  creatures  should  not  have 
revealed  Himself  to  them.  We  are  all  taught  as  children 
that  this  revelation  has  indeed  been  effected,  and  that 
the  Bible  is  a  Divinely  inspired  book  containing  such 
revelation.  But  as  we  grow  older  difficulties  present 
themselves.  We  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
universe  was  created  in  six  days,  and  that  after  it  had  been 
thus  created  God  should  have  rested  on  the  seventh  day. 
The  story  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  with  its  talking  serpent 
and  its  two  trees,  is  also  difficult  to  believe,  but  when  we 
come  to  Cain,  the  only  surviving  son  of  the  first  pair, 
and  are  told  that  after  murdering  his  brother  and  being 
rebuked  and  cursed  by  the  Lord,  he  went  and  dwelt  in 
the  land  of  Nod,  on  the  east  of  Eden,  took  to  himself  a 
wife  and  had  children  by  her,  we  feel  that  this  book  is 
self-contradictory.  Further,  we  are  told  that  the  sun 
stood  still  for  Joshua,  when  we  know  that  it  is  the  earth 
which  revolves  round  the  sun,  and  that  the  rising  and 
the  setting  of  the  sun  is  but  an  illusion  of  the  senses. 
Such  obvious  impossibilities  dispose  the  modern  reader 
to  regard  the  Bible  as  a  collection  of  myths,  a  sort  of 
folk-lore.  He  may  agree  with  Professor  Huxley,  the 
founder  of  agnosticism,  in  thinking  it  the  most  beautiful 


REVELATION 


105 

piece  of  literature  in  existence,  but  he  will  have  difficulty 
in  disproving  the  Professor's  contention  that  it  is  obviously 
uninspired*  How  are  we  to  explain  King  David,  for 
instance,  who  is  held  up  to  our  admiration  i  how  justify 
the  brutal  massacres  in  which  the  Israelites  indulged  { 
These  are  just  a  few  of  the  stumbling-blocks  we  encounter  ; 
we  need  not,  for  instance,  dwell  on  the  prophets ;  indeed 
Voltaire  regarded  Habakkuk  as  *  capable  of  anything*' 

The  question  as  to  how  far  the  Bible  is  literally  in¬ 
spired  would  appear,  in  the  face  of  these  numerous 
difficulties,  to  be  of  but  minor  importance,  although  we 
believe  the  Church  of  England  has  gone  so  far  as  to  give 
up  the  doctrine  of  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
altogether* 

What  must  be  our  surprise,  therefore,  to  read  in 
Swedenborg's  *  True  Christian  Religion  '  the  following 
passage  ! 

The  style  of  the  Word  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  contain  what 
is  holy  in  every  verse,  in  every  word,  and,  in  some  cases,  in 
every  letter  ;  and  hence  the  Word  conjoins  man  with  the  Lord, 
and  opens  heaven*  *  *  *  But  it  is  well  to  observe  that  only 
those  receive  life  from  the  Word  who  read  it  with  this  end  and 
design,  viz*,  to  draw  divine  truths  from  it, — 

in  order  to  carry  them  out  in  their  lives  ;  to  read  the 
Word  for  purposes  of  profit  or  worldly  advancement  has 
a  baneful  effect* 

How  are  we  to  reconcile  the  difficulties  referred  to 
with  the  statement  just  quoted  {  Or,  rather,  why  is  it 
that  God  should  choose  a  method  of  revelation  so  obscure, 
so  difficult  i  Why  not  tell  us  plainly  and  simply  what 
He  wants  us  to  know  i 

There  is  a  very  significant  passage  in  Matthew  xiii*  34  : 
*  All  these  things  spake  Jesus  unto  the  multitude  in 
parables  ;  and  without  a  parable  spake  He  not  unto  them*' 

Swedenborg  says  that  the  reason  why  the  spiritual 
sense  of  the  Word  was  not  revealed  before  is  that  the 
Church  would  have  profaned  it*  But  he  solemnly  assures 
us  *  that  Jehovah  the  Lord,  who  is  God  of  Heaven  and 
earth,  spoke  the  Word  by  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and 


106  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

that  consequently  it  must  be  Divine  truth ;  for  what 
Jehovah  the  Lord  Himself  speaks  can  be  nothing  else/ 

If  the  Bible  be  Divine  truth,  and  nothing  else,  and 
is  yet  full  of  obvious  contradictions  and  statements  that 
are  in  direct  conflict  with  our  knowledge  of  scientific 
facts,  then  there  must  be  some  method  of  reconciling 
these  contradictions* 

Before  proceeding  further  with  Swedenborg's  ex¬ 
planation — revelation  would  indeed  be  the  better  word 
to  use — of  the  true  meaning  of  the  Bible,  let  us  pause 
to  consider  for  one  moment  the  true  meaning  of  the 
world — the  world  and  its  scientific  facts*  We  know  that 
the  ground  is  called  earth  ;  we  know  what  the  atmosphere 
is  composed  of ;  we  know  that  certain  trees  bear  fruit ; 
we  know  that  there  are  minerals  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth* 
Unless  there  was  an  abundance  of  water,  we  know  that 
life  would  be  impossible*  We  know  all  these  things,  and 
many  more,  but  we  do  not  know  the  reason  for  them* 
There  is  a  school  of  scientific  thought  who  persist  in 
regarding  the  world  and  all  that  is  in  it  as  a  fortuitous 
accident ;  who  can  see  nothing  in  the  starry  heavens  but 
a  series  of  masses  of  radiating  bodies  on  which  it  is  highly 
improbable  that  the  accident  which  we  call  life  should 
have  been  repeated*  Their  outlook,  it  must  be  confessed, 
is  rather  dull  and  uninteresting* 

The  Christian  regards  the  world  and  everything  in  it 
as  having  been  Divinely  created.  The  Divine  Creator  of 
the  universe  must  be  omniscient,  He  must  be  the  essence 
of  Wisdom,  as  He  must  also  be  the  essence  of  Love. 
The  idea  of  a  Deity  is  otherwise  inconceivable.  Now, 
if  God  is  Infinite  Wisdom,  it  follows  that  everything 
created  by  Him  must  bear  the  stamp  of  His  wisdom. 
Every  object,  consequently,  in  the  created  universe  must 
have  a  meaning,  must  have  an  interior  meaning,  must 
be  representative  of  some  truth,  must  have  a  message, 
must  correspond  to  some  inner  spiritual  order,  or  it 
could  not  exist ;  to  every  reflective  mind  that  must  be 
obvious*  The  idea  of  a  fortuitous,  arbitrary  creation  is 
as  unphilosophical  and  as  repugnant  to  reason  as  the  idea 
of  the  fortuitous  accidental  origin  and  existence  of  the 


REVELATION 


107 

world*  Even  in  our  popular  songs  this  feeling  is  voiced  : 
*  Every  little  flower  has  a  meaning  of  its  own/  But 
our  misfortune  is  that  we  do  not  know  this  meaning* 
Swedenborg  asserts  that  in  remote  ages  the  science  of 
correspondences  as  he  calls  it,  was  known,  as  evinced, 
e*g*,  by  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  but  that  it  has  been 
lost* 

Now  in  the  Bible  it  is  the  internal  sense,  the  spirit, 
which  giveth  life ;  the  letter,  as  we  have  been  told  by 
our  Lord  Himself,  on  the  other  hand,  killeth* 

In  his  *  Heaven  and  Hell/  Swedenborg  shows  that 
all  things  in  nature,  both  in  general  and  in  particular, 
correspond  to  spiritual  things,  and  that  even  the  human 
body,  with  every  component  part  and  everything  in  it, 
is  representative*  He  avers,  in  his  *  True  Christian 
Religion/  that  the  science  of  correspondences  was  familiar 
to  men  of  the  most  ancient  times,  *  who  esteemed  it  the 
science  of  sciences  and  cultivated  it  so  universally  that 
all  their  books  and  treatises  were  written  by  correspond¬ 
ences/  The  mythologies  were  founded  on  the  same 
science,  and  all  the  ancient  churches  were  representative 
in  their  rites,  ordination,  and  articles  of  belief*  This  also 
applies  to  the  Jewish  Church  with  its  various  sacrifices 
and  offerings*  The  tabernacle  was  representative  with 
everything  it  contained*  Here  follows  a  sentence 
remarkable  for  its  condensation  and  lucidity : 

Now,  as  Divine  things  fix  their  existence  in  external  nature 
in  correspondences,  therefore  the  Word  was  written  by  mere 
correspondences ;  and  for  the  same  reason  the  Lord,  speaking 
as  He  did  from  the  Divine,  spoke  in  correspondences  ;  for 
whatever  proceeds  from  the  Divine,  when  it  comes  into  external 
nature,  manifests  itself  in  such  external  things  as  correspond 
with  what  is  divine,  which  external  things  thus  become  the 
repositories  of  Divine  things,  otherwise  called  celestial  and 
spiritual,  which  lie  concealed  within  them* 

The  Word,  [he  says,]  is  like  a  garden  which  may  be  called 
a  heavenly  paradise,  containing  delicacies  and  delights  of  every 
kind,  delicacies  of  fruits  and  delights  of  flowers,  in  the  midst 
of  which  are^trees  of  life,  and  beside  them  fountains  of  living 
water,  and  forest  trees  round  about  the  garden*  Whoever 
is  principled  in  divine  truths,  by  virtue  of  doctrine,  is  in  the 


io8 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


midst  of  the  garden,  among  the  trees  of  life,  and  in  the  actual 
enjoyment  of  its  delicacies  and  delights*  When  a  man  is  not 
principled  in  truths  by  virtue  of  doctrine,  but  only  from  the 
literal  sense,  he  abides  in  the  boundaries  of  the  garden,  and 
sees  nothing  but  forest  scenery ;  but  when  a  man  is  in  the 
doctrine  of  a  false  religion,  and  has  confirmed  its  errors  in  his 
mind,  he  is  not  even  in  the  forest,  but  in  a  sandy  plain  without, 
where  there  is  not  even  grass. 

In  its  literal  sense  the  Word  is  compared  by  Sweden¬ 
borg  to — 

a  cabinet  which  contains  precious  stones,  pearls,  and  diadems, 
arranged  in  exact  order ;  and  where  a  man  accounts  the  Word 
holy,  and  reads  it  for  the  sake  of  its  uses  in  respect  to  life,  the 
thoughts  of  his  mind  may  be  compared  with  a  person  who  takes 
such  a  cabinet  in  his  hand,  and  sends  it  up  towards  Heaven, 
when  lo  !  it  flies  open  in  its  ascent,  and  its  precious  contents  are 
displayed  to  the  sight  of  the  angels,  who  are  penetrated  with 
delight  in  beholding  and  examining  them.  This  delight  of 
the  angels  is  communicated  to  the  man,  producing  consociation, 
and  likewise  a  communication  of  perceptions, 

Swedenborg  further  likens  the  spiritual  sense  con¬ 
tained  in  the  Word  to  the  soul  in  the  human  body. 

This  spiritual  sense  does  not  break  forth  as  light 
out  of  the  literal  sense  when  a  person  is  studying  and 
explaining  the  Word  with  a  view  to  establishing  some 
particular  tenet  of  the  Church,  Indeed,  the  spiritual 
sense  does  not  appear  in  the  literal  sense  at  all,  for  it 
is  within  it,  as  the  soul  in  the  body,  or  the  thought  of 
the  mind  or  understanding  in  the  eye,  or  the  affection 
of  love  in  the  countenance.  The  style  in  which  the 
Word  is  written,  although  it  appears  ordinary,  is  never¬ 
theless  the  repository  of  all  Divine  and  angelic  wisdom. 
For  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  which  is  natural  in  its  last 
or  external  sense,  is  spiritual  in  its  interior  sense,  and 
celestial  in  its  inmost  sense,  and  in  all  three  it  is  Divine  : 
thus  it  is  adapted  to  angels  and  men.  Seeing  that  the 
spiritual  and  celestial  senses  are  contained  within  the 
literal  sense,  it  follows  that  the  Divine  Truth  in  that 
external  literal  sense  of  the  Word  is  in  its  fulness,  its 
sanctity,  and  its  power. 


REVELATION 


109 


The  Word  in  its  glory  was  represented  in  the  person 
of  the  Lord  at  His  transfiguration,  in  the  presence  of 
Peter,  James  and  John*  In  Matthew  xvii*  1-5  it  is 
said  :  *  His  face  did  shine  as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment 
was  as  the  light ;  and  there  appeared  Moses  and  Elias 
talking  with  him ;  and  a  bright  cloud  overshadowed 
them  :  and  a  voice  was  heard  out  of  the  cloud,  saying, 
This  is  my  beloved  Son ;  hear  ye  him/  Swedenborg 
states  that  he  was  informed  that  the  Lord  on  this  occa¬ 
sion  represented  the  Word ;  His  face,  which  shone  as 
the  sun,  represented  the  divine  good  of  His  divine  love ; 
His  raiment,  which  was  as  the  light,  the  divine  truth  of 
His  divine  wisdom ;  Moses  and  Elias  the  historical  and 
prophetical  Word ;  the  bright  cloud  which  overshadowed 
the  disciples,  the  Word  in  its  literal  sense* 

Here  it  may  be  convenient  to  refer  to  Swedenborg's 
statement  that  during  the  Lord's  abode  in  the  world  He 
fulfilled  all  things  contained  in  the  Word*'  Thus,  we  are 
told  in  John  i* : 

In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God, 
and  the  Word  was  God*  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God*  All  things  were  made  by  him ;  and  without  him  was 
not  anything  made  that  was  made.  In  him  was  life  ;  and  the 
life  was  the  light  of  men*  And  the  light  shineth  in  darkness, 
and  the  darkness  comprehended  it  not*  *  *  *  And  the  Word  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father)  full  of  grace  and 
truth. 

From  this  passage  it  is  legitimate  to  conclude  that 
there  has  always  been  a  revelation,  a  Word.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  surprising  to  learn  from  Swedenborg  that  there 
was  a  Word  among  the  ancients,  written  by  pure  corre¬ 
spondence,  but  that  it  has  been  lost  on  earth,  though  it 
is  still  preserved  by  them  in  Heaven*  That  Word  was 
full  of  correspondences  remotely  signifying  celestial  and 
spiritual  things,  but  was  ultimately  falsified  by  many,  and 
consequently  through  the  Divine  Providence  of  the  Lord 
this  was  in  process  of  time  finally  lost,  when  another 
Word  was  given  through  the  Israelite  prophets  which  was 
written  by  correspondences  less  remote*  In  Numbers, 


no  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

for  instance,  reference  is  made  to  this  ancient  Word, 
where  it  is  called  the  Wars  of  Jehovah ,  and  the  poetical 
parts  are  referred  to  as  Enunciations * 

The  reason  why  the  science  of  correspondences,  which 
is  the  key  to  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word,  was  not 
discovered  to  later  ages,  was  because  the  Christians  of 
the  primitive  church  were  men  of  such  simplicity  that 
they  would  not  have  understood  it*  After  those  first 
ages  of  Christianity  there  arose  thick  clouds  of  darkness, 
which  overspread  the  whole  Christian  world ;  first  in 
consequence  of  the  propagation  of  many  heresies  in  the 
church,  and  soon  after  in  consequence  of  the  decrees 
and  decisions  of  the  Council  of  Nice*  The  spiritual 
sense  has  now  been  revealed  through  Swedenborg, 
because  the  Divine  truths  of  the  church  are  now  coming 
to  light,  and  of  these  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word 
consists ;  while  these  are  in  man,  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Word  cannot  be  perverted*  But  hereafter  the  spiritual 
sense  of  the  Word  treats  solely  of  the  Lord  and  His 
kingdom*  This  sense  man  can  violate  if  he  has  a  know¬ 
ledge  of  correspondences,  and  desires  thereby  to  explore 
this  sense  under  the  influence  of  his  own  self-derived 
intelligence,  for  he  may  in  this  way  pervert  the  spiritual 
sense  and  confirm  error  from  it,  thus  offering  violence 
to  Divine  truth,  and  consequently  to  Heaven  ;  therefore. 
Heaven  is  closed  against  him,  and  he  either  loses  all  con¬ 
ception  of  truth  or  becomes  spiritually  insane*  Moreover, 
the  Lord  instructs  every  individual  by  means  of  the 
Word,  and  bases  his  instruction  on  what  man  already 
knows,  but  does  not  impart  fresh  knowledge  immediately ; 
therefore,  if  a  man  is  not  principled  in  Divine  truths,  or 
is  only  in  a  few  truths  and  at  the  same  time  in  errors,  he 
may  falsify  truths  by  errors,  as  is  done  by  every  heretic 
in  respect  of  the  literal  sense*  In  order,  therefore,  to 
prevent  such  a  perversion  of  genuine  truth,  the  Lord  sets 
guards,  which  are  signified  in  the  Word  by  cherubs* 

We  have  seen  that  the  Word  is  in  its  fulness,  holiness 
and  power,  in  its  literal  sense ;  the  Lord  is  consequently 
eminently  present  there,  and  thence  instructs  and 
enlightens  mankind*  Yet  without  doctrine  the  Word  is 


REVELATION 


hi 


unintelligible*  Let  us  take  a  few  instances  to  make  this 
clear*  Thus  we  are  told  in  one  passage  *  that  Jehovah 
repenteth,'  and  in  others  '  that  Jehovah  doth  not  repent*' 
In  one  passage  we  are  told  that  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
shall  be  visited  on  the  children  to  the  third  and  fourth 
generation ;  and  in  another  that  fathers  shall  not  be  put  to 
death  for  the  children,  nor  the  children  for  the  fathers ; 
but  that  every  man  shall  be  put  to  death  for  his  own  sin* 
Without  doctrine  it  might  be,  and  indeed  has  been, 
assumed  that  heaven  was  for  the  poor  and  not  for  the 
rich,  but  it  is  the  poor  in  spirit  who  are  meant,  for  the 
Lord  says,  in  another  place :  ‘  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit ;  for  theirs  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven/  Then, 
again,  the  Lord  says  :  *  Be  ye  not  called  teacher,  for  one 
is  your  teacher,  even  Christ ;  and  call  no  man  your  father 
upon  earth,  for  one  is  your  Father  in  Heaven  ;  neither  be 
ye  called  masters,  for  one  is  your  master,  even  Christ/ 
On  this  Swedenborg  comments  :  *  These  words,  unex¬ 
plained  by  doctrine,  would  seem  to  imply  that  it  is  not 
lawful  to  call  anyone  teacher,  father,  or  master ;  whereas 
by  doctrine  we  learn  that  this  is  lawful  in  a  natural  sense, 
though  it  is  unlawful  in  a  spiritual  sense/  Here  is  another 
difficult  passage,  quoted  from  Matthew  xix*,  where  Jesus 
says  to  His  disciples  :  *  When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve 
thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel*'  But  as 
nobody  can  judge  any  person,  this  saying  is  explained 
by  doctrine  as  implying  that  the  Lord  alone,  who  is 
omniscient  and  knows  all  hearts,  will  sit  in  judgment, 
and  is  able  to  judge ;  and  that  by  His  twelve  disciples 
is  meant  the  Church  in  respect  of  all  the  truths  and  goods 
it  has  from  the  Lord  by  means  of  the  Word ;  and  that 
everyone  will  be  judged  by  those  truths  and  goods, 
according  to  the  words  of  the  Lord  in  John  iii*  16-21  : 

God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish  but  have 
everlasting  life*  For  God  sent  not  his  Son  to  condemn  the 
world,  but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved*  He 
that  believeth  in  him  is  not  condemned  :  but  he  that  believeth 
not  is  condemned  already,  because  he  hath  not  believed  in  the 


1 12  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

name  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God*  And  this  is  the  con¬ 
demnation,  that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved 
darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil*  For 
every  one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to  the 
light,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved.  But  he  that  doeth 
truth  cometh  to  the  light,  that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest 
that  they  are  wrought  in  God, 

And  in  the  same  Gospel,  chap,  xii,  47-48,  our  Lord  says  : 

And  if  any  man  hear  my  words  and  believe  not,  I  judge  him 
not ;  for  I  came  not  to  judge  the  world,  but  to  save  the  world. 
He  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my  words,  hath  one  that 
judgeth  him  :  the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge 
him  in  the  last  day. 

These  illustrations  will  suffice  to  show  that  to  read 
the  Word  unguided  by  doctrine  is  apt  to  cause  mis¬ 
apprehension  and  error.  That  we  read  and  explain  the 
Word  according  to  doctrine  is  evidenced  by  the  practice 
of  all  Christian  churches,  e.g.  the  Protestant,  the  Roman 
Catholic,  and  the  Greek,  whilst  the  Jews  do  the  same. 
Where  the  doctrine  is  erroneous,  men  see  falsely,  and 
give  false  interpretations,  but  where  the  doctrine  is  true, 
the  interpretation  is  in  accordance.  Of  course,  doctrine 
must  be  drawn  from  the  literal  sense :  the  outward 
covering  of  the  interior  truths. 

We  will  now  turn  to  the  Bible  itself  and  endeavour 
to  give  some  idea  of  its  interior  meaning.  We  have  seen 
that  it  has  been  given  us  for  our  instruction ;  it  is  a  means 
of  drawing  us  to  Heaven,  In  that  case,  it  must  obviously 
be  a  repository  of  wisdom,  it  must  contain  truths  suited 
for  every  state  of  mind  and  for  every  human  soul.  It 
should  teach  us  all  that  we  are  capable  of  knowing  of 
God,  of  the  future  life,  of  the  Church  on  earth,  and  our 
own  salvation,  the  state  of  our  soul,  and  how  we  are  to 
proceed  to  achieve  that  salvation.  All  these  things  are 
there,  all  the  mysteries  of  Heaven  and  earth  are  in  that 
casket  of  truth,  for  is  it  not  the  living  word  of  God  i 
Heaven  and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  His  Word  is 
infinite — it  cannot  pass  away. 

Let  us  begin  at  the  beginning.  The  first  chapters  of 


REVELATION 


113 

Genesis  are  obviously  not  what  they  purport  to  be* 
They  cannot,  in  the  light  at  least  of  our  present  limited 
scientific  knowledge,  be  accepted  as  a  literal  description 
of  the  creation  of  the  world*  Moreover,  if  that  was  all 
they  were,  they  would  be  of  but  little  spiritual  value* 
If  we  are  to  read  the  Word  for  our  edification,  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  expect  to  find  something  more  in  it  than  a 
bare  record  of  facts  without  any  further  bearing  on  the 
things  that  matter*  We  are  all  the  more  justified  in  our 
assumption  that  these  statements  in  the  Book  of  Genesis 
are  not  quite  what  on  the  surface  they  would  seem  to  be 
by  St*  Paul,  who  tells  us  that  they  are  allegorical*  And 
now  Swedenborg  has  given  us  the  key  to  this  allegory* 

In  the  first  volume  of  his  *  Arcana  Ccelestia/  in  a 
preface  to  the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  following  sentence 
occurs  : 

the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  in  its  internal  sense,  treats  of 
the  new  creation  of  man,  or  of  his  regeneration  in  general, 
and  specifically  of  the  Most  Ancient  Church ;  and  this  in 
such  a  manner  that  there  is  not  a  single  syllable  which  does  not 
represent,  signify,  and  involve  something  spiritual. 

The  six  days  in  which  the  world  was  created  are  the 
six  stages  of  man's  regeneration*  The  first  stage  is  one 
of  emptiness  and  darkness,  a  void  in  which  the  Spirit 
of  God  moves  upon  the  surface  of  the  waters*  The 
Spirit  of  God  here  means  the  Divine  mercy,  and  the 
waters  are  the  knowledge  of  truth  and  good,  which  do 
not  come  to  light  until  externals  are  devastated  or 
removed*  In  the  second  state,  externals  are  separated 
from  the  internal  remnants  which  are  stored  in  the  mind 
by  the  Lord.  The  third  state  is  one  of  repentance,  when 
good  works  are  performed,  but  as  these  are  then  ascribed 
by  man  to  his  own  merit,  they  are  inanimate — at  first 
the  tender  herb,  then  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  sub¬ 
sequently  the  tree  bearing  fruit*  In  the  fourth  state 
man  is  affected  by  love  and  enlightened  by  faith — these 
are  the  two  luminaries*  If  he  then  proceeds  to  the  fifth 
state  he  talks  from  faith  and  confirms  himself  thereby  in 
truth  and  good*  He  now  produces  living  results — the 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


1 14 

fishes  of  the  sea  and  the  birds  of  the  heavens*  By  fish 
scientifics  are  meant,  and  birds  signify  things  rational  and 
intellectual*  His  next,  or  sixth  state,  is  when  man  utters 
truths  and  does  good  from  faith  and  consequently  from 
love*  He  now  produces  the  living  soul  and  the  beast, 
and  becomes  a  spiritual  man — an  image*  His  spiritual 
life  is  delighted  and  sustained  by  his  knowledge  of  faith 
and  his  works  of  charity — these  are  his  meat*  But  his 
natural  life  is  equally  delighted  and  sustained  by  the 
things  of  the  body  and  the  senses,  hence  arises  conflict 
until  love  reigns  supreme  and  he  becomes  a  celestial  man 
— the  seventh  state*  Swedenborg  adds  that  this  stage  is 
not  attained  by  all  the  regenerate — indeed,  in  these  days 
the  majority  reach  the  first  state  only,  and  the  successive 
stages  in  a  diminishing  proportion,  very  few  reaching 
the  sixth  and  scarcely  any  the  seventh,  which  is  that  of 
the  celestial  man  when,  love  having  finally  conquered, 
all  conflict  is  at  an  end,  and  the  Lord  therefore  rests, 
having  completed  His  work  and  evolved  by  slow  and 
laborious  stages  a  celestial  man  out  of  a  carnally  minded 
human  animal* 

The  story  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  and  the  fall,  as  it 
is  called,  has  been  touched  upon  in  Chapter  II,  *  The 
Origin  of  Evil*' 

We  now  come  to  the  Flood*  The  sixth  chapter  of 
Genesis  describes  the  state  of  mankind  and  the  Church 
just  before  the  Flood*  In  the  4  Arcana  Coelestia  '  (Vol*  8, 
No*  560)  Swedenborg  explains  that  at  that  time  it 
resembled  in  general  its  successors,  such  as,  for  instance, 
the  Jewish  Church  before  the  Advent  of  our  Lord,  and 
the  Christian  Church  which  corrupted  and  adulterated 
the  true  faith*  The  members  of  this  antediluvian  Church 
immersed  the  goods  and  truths  of  their  faith  in  their 
own  lusts,  for,  owing  mainly  to  their  intense  self-love, 
they  regarded  themselves  as  gods ;  and  they  thus  suffo¬ 
cated  the  remnants  of  goodness  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
God  stores  up  in  every  human  soul*  There  was  con¬ 
sequently  no  perception  of  good  and  truth  left,  wherefore 
we  are  told  that  *  it  repented  Jehovah  that  he  had  made 
man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  him  at  his  heart*'  But, 


REVELATION 


115 

of  course,  Jehovah  never  repents,  because  He  foresees 
all  things,  in  general  and  in  particular,  from  eternity* 
The  repentance  of  the  Lord  was  but  an  appearance*  It 
is  His  mercy  that  is  here  meant,  and  this  is  beyond  our 
comprehension,  seeing  that  it  infinitely  transcends  all 
human  understanding ;  but  we  know  what  human  mercy 
is,  we  know  what  repentance  and  grief  are,  therefore 
these  human  feelings  are  attributed  to  God  in  order  that 
man  might  thus  be  instructed*  Human  properties  are 
thus  frequently  attributed  to  God,  who  is  represented 
as  being  angry,  punishing,  destroying  and  leading  into 
temptation*  This  is  contrary  to  a  philosophical  con¬ 
ception  of  the  Deity,  and  indeed  God  cannot  be  supposed 
to  possess  human  weakness,  and  to  fall  into  a  passion 
and  act  violently  and  inconsiderately*  Yet  it  appears  to 
be  so  to  us*  Swedenborg  points  out  that — 

if  a  man  in  simplicity  believes  that  the  Lord  is  angry,  punishes, 
repents  and  grieves,  and  is  thereby  restrained  from  evil  and 
led  to  do  good,  it  does  not  at  all  hurt  him,  because  he  believes 
also  that  the  Lord  sees  all  things  in  general  and  in  particular ; 
and  being  in  such  a  faith,  he  is  enlightened  afterwards  in  other 
things,  in  another  life,  if  not  before.  It  is  different  with  those 
who  are  self-persuaded  from  pre-conceived  principles  through 
the  pernicious  love  of  self  and  the  world. 

The  Flood  was  thus  nothing  else  but  a  self-induced 
inundation  of  evil  and  error  or  falsity,  which  extinguished 
all  truth  and  good*  Indeed,  an  influx  of  delusions  and 
lust  from  evil  spirits  is  not  unlike  a  flood  or  inundation, 
and  is  consequently  described  as  such  in  various  parts 
of  the  Word* 

The  Most  Ancient  Church  having  been  destroyed,  it 
became  necessary,  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  to  found 
a  New  Church,  and  this  is  typified  by  Noah*  The  Most 
Ancient  Church  had  a  perception  of  good,  and  thence  of 
truth  from  the  Lord,  whilst  the  Ancient  Church  of  Noah 
possessed  a  conscience  of  what  was  good  and  true*  But 
let  us  quote  from  Swedenborg : 

The  subject  now  treated  of  [he  says]  is  the  formation  of 
the  New  Church,  which  is  named  Noah  ;  and  its  formation  is 


n6 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


described  by  the  ark,  into  which  living  things  of  every  kind 
were  received*  But  before  that  New  Church  could  exist,  the 
man  of  the  Church,  as  is  usual,  must  needs  endure  many 
temptations,  which  are  described  by  the  elevation,  fluctuation 
and  continuance  of  that  ark  on  the  waters  of  the  flood*  And 
at  length,  his  becoming  a  truly  spiritual  man,  and  being  set  at 
liberty,  is  described  by  the  cessation  of  the  waters,  and  many 
things  which  follow*  It  is  impossible  for  anyone  to  see  these 
spiritual  contents  who  adheres  solely  to  the  letter ;  and  here 
especially,  because  all  these  things  have  been  connected  in  the 
manner  of  a  history,  and  present  to  view  an  idea  such  as  that 
of  a  history  of  events*  But  the  style  of  writing  at  that  time, 
most  pleasing  to  these  ancient  people,  was  such  that  all  things 
were  involved  in  types  ;  and  these  types  were  disposed  and 
adjusted  after  the  manner  of  a  history  ;  and  the  more  perfectly 
these  historical  things  cohered  in  a  series,  the  more  it  was  in 
accordance  with  their  genius*  For  in  those  ancient  times  they 
did  not  apply  themselves  so  much  to  sciences  as  men  at  the 
present  day,  but  to  profound  thoughts,  of  which  such  were 
the  offspring*  This  was  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients*  That  the 
flood,  the  ark,  and  the  things  described  concerning  the  flood 
and  the  ark,  signify  regeneration,  and  also  the  temptations  which 
precede  it  is  known  in  some  measure  to  the  learned  at  this 
day*  ♦  ♦  ♦ 

To  this  we  will  add  another  extract  from  the  '  Arcana 
Coelestia/  in  which  Swedenborg  makes  a  general  state¬ 
ment  concerning  the  Bible*  He  says  : 

The  Word  was  given  to  unite  Heaven  and  earth,  or  angels 
with  men  ;  wherefore  it  is  so  written  that  it  may  be  understood 
spiritually  by  the  angels  when  it  is  understood  naturally  by  men, 
and  that  thus  what  is  holy  may  flow  in  through  the  angels,  by 
means  of  which,  union  is  brought  about*  Such  is  the  Word, 
both  in  the  historical  parts,  and  in  the  prophetical ;  but  the 
internal  sense  is  less  apparent  in  the  historical  than  in  the  pro¬ 
phetical  parts,  because  the  latter  are  written  in  a  different  style, 
although  still  in  significatives*  The  historical  parts  are  given 
on  this  account,  that  children  and  young  people  may  be  initiated 
thereby  into  the  reading  of  the  Word ;  for  these  parts  are 
delightful,  and  gain  a  place  in  the  minds  of  the  young,  whereby 
communication  is  thus  given  them  with  the  heavens,  which 
communication  is  grateful,  because  they  are  in  a  state  of 
innocence  and  mutual  charity  ;  this  is  the  reason  why  the  Word 


REVELATION 


117 


is  historic.  The  reason  why  the  Word  is  prophetic  is,  because 
when  it  is  read  it  is  not  understood  by  man  except  obscurely  ; 
and  when  it  is  understood  obscurely  by  man,  such  as  he  is  at 
the  present  day,  it  is  clearly  perceived  by  the  angels. 

In  this  connection  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the 
Apocalypse,  which  is  a  prophetic  work,  does  not  treat  of 
the  fate  of  the  nations  of  kingdoms  of  this  world.  From 
beginning  to  end  it  treats  of  the  last  state  of  the  Church 
in  Heaven  and  on  earth ;  and  of  the  last  judgment ;  and 
after  this  of  the  New  Church,  which  is  the  New  Jeru¬ 
salem.  Swedenborg  has  written  a  full  explanation  of 
this  book  in  his  *  Apocalypse  Revealed/ 

We  must  now  say  something  about  the  Jewish  sacri¬ 
fices,  the  significance  of  which  has  been  so  generally 
misinterpreted.  At  these  sacrifices  the  animals  offered 
were  oxen,  bullocks,  he-goats,  rams,  she-goats,  male-kids, 
lambs,  ewe-lambs,  and  kids  of  the  she-goats.  Now  all 
animals  are  representative  in  general  of  human  thoughts 
and  affections,  and  hence  of  truths  and  goods,  and  con¬ 
sequently  of  faith  and  love.  Man  himself  is  nothing  but 
an  animal  outwardly,  it  is  by  his  internal  that  he  can  be 
elevated  to  Heaven  and  God,  and  receive  faith  and  love. 
This  is  why  beasts  were  sacrificed,  for  these  burnt-offerings 
and  sacrifices  in  general  symbolised  the  regeneration  of 
man,  and,  in  the  highest  sense,  the  glorification  of  the 
Lord's  Humanity.  The  whole  of  worship  was  repre¬ 
sented  by  these  rites,  for  all  things  of  worship  should  have 
reference  to  purification  from  evils  and  errors,  and  to  the 
grafting  of  truth  and  good  and  their  union,  and  thus  to 
regeneration,  for  by  these  three  processes  is  man's  re¬ 
generation  effected.  Sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings  were 
consequently  exacted  for  every  sin  and  guilt,  and  thus 
all  offences  were  expiated  and  pardoned.  Pardoning, 
expiation,  propitiation  and  redemption  are  simply  no 
more  nor  less  than  the  processes  above  enumerated  of 
purification  from  evil  and  error,  engrafting  good  and 
truth,  and  their  union,  which  is  regeneration.  By  the 
sacrifice  and  burnt-offering  of  the  bullock,  the  ox,  and 
the  he-goat,  the  purification  and  regeneration  of  the 
natural  or  external  man  was  represented  ;  by  those  of  the 


n8 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


ram,  she-goat,  male-kid,  the  same  process  with  regard  to 
the  spiritual  man,  whilst  the  regeneration  of  the  celestial 
man  was  represented  by  the  sacrifice  and  burnt-offering 
of  the  he-lamb,  the  ewe-lamb  and  the  kid  of  the  she- 
goats.  In  the  highest  sense  these  rites  of  the  Jewish 
Church  symbolised  the  glorification  of  the  Lord's 
Humanity,  seeing  that  all  the  rites  of  the  Israelites  and 
Jewish  nation  had  reference  to  the  Lord  alone  ;  moreover 
the  regeneration  of  man  is  effected  solely  by  the  Lord,  and 
consequently  whenever  the  regeneration  of  man  is  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  Word  it  refers,  in  the  highest  sense,  to  the 
glorification  of  the  Lord's  Humanity,  of  which  man's 
regeneration  is  an  image.  To  glorify  the  human  was  to 
make  the  same  Divine,  and  to  regenerate  man  is  to 
make  him  heavenly,  so  that  the  Lord  may  dwell 
in  him. 

There  is  a  wide-spread  belief  that  there  are  lucky 
and  unlucky  numbers ;  the  reader  will  therefore  not  be 
surprised  to  learn  that  numbers  in  the  Word  have  a 
spiritual  meaning,  and  that  numbers  and  measures  refer 
to  the  quality  of  the  subject  treated  of.  Swedenborg 
explains  that  spiritual  things  are  neither  numbered  nor 
measured,  but  fall  into  numbers  and  measures  as  they 
descend  out  of  the  spiritual  world,  or  out  of  Heaven,  into 
the  natural  world  amongst  men.  The  simple  or  primary 
numbers  are  two,  three,  five,  and  seven.  The  number 
two  signifies  union,  and  is  predicated  of  good  ;  the  number 
three  signifies  fulness  and  is  predicated  of  truths  ;  the 
number  five  signifies  much  and  some ;  and  the  number 
seven  signifies  what  is  holy.  From  the  number  two  proceed 
the  numbers  4,  8,  16,  400,  800,  1,600,  4,000,  8,000,  16,000  ; 
which  have  a  signification  similar  to  number  two,  because 
they  proceed  from  that  simple  number  multiplied  by 
itself  and  by  ten.  From  the  number  three  proceed  6,  12, 
24,  72,  144,  1,440,  144,000 ;  which  numbers  being  the 
product  of  the  simple  number  multiplied  have  a  similar 
signification  to  three.  From  the  number  five  proceed 
10,  50,  100,  1,000,  10,000,  100,000 ;  which  have  a  similar 
signification  to  five  for  the  same  reason.  From  the  number 
seven  proceed  14,  70,  700,  7,000,  70,000  ;  which  are  in  the 


REVELATION 


119 

same  relation  to  seven.  The  number  twelve  signifies  com¬ 
pleteness,  all  things,  or  all  persons,  since  it  is  derived  from 
three  which  means  fulness  of  completeness,  and  it  is 
predicated  of  truths  from  goods  because  it  is  produced 
by  three,  which  is  predicated  of  truths,  and  is  multiplied 
by  four  which  is  predicated  of  good.  Thus  there  were 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  each  tribe  representing  an  essential 
and  universal  principle  of  the  Church,  and  12,000  out 
of  every  tribe  were  sealed,  by  which  figure  all  were  meant. 
The  number  twelve  occurs  so  frequently  in  the  Bible  that 
everybody  must  feel  it  has  a  spiritual  significance. 

The  half  and  the  double  of  a  number  imply  a  similar 
meaning,  and  the  meaning  of  compound  numbers  can 
be  ascertained  from  the  simple  numbers  of  the  multi¬ 
plication  of  which  they  are  the  product* 

Twelve  corresponds  with  all  things  of  faith,  seven  with 
things  that  are  holy,  and  ten  and  five  with  goods  and 
truths  stored  up  by  the  Lord  in  the  interior  mind  of  man. 
That  all  numbers  have  a  spiritual  meaning  is  evident 
from  Ezekiel,  where  the  new  earth,  the  new  city  and  the 
new  temple,  which  the  angel  measured,  are  described, 
as  well  as  from  the  measurements  in  Revelation  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  the  New  Church  descending  from 
Heaven, 

Weights  and  measures  in  the  Word  have  all  a  spiritual 
significance.  For  a  complete  study  of  the  spiritual  and 
celestial  meaning  of  the  Bible  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
*  Arcana  Ccelestia/  The  subject  is  too  vast  to  be  treated 
adequately  within  the  compass  of  this  work.  It  may  be 
said  however  that  the  interpretation  of  the  internal  sense 
of  the  Bible  is  not  arbitrary  but  in  accordance  with  the 
science  of  correspondences,  by  which  all  interpretations 
of  the  Word  can  be  tested.  One  illustration  may  suffice. 
We  are  told  that  our  Lord  washed  His  disciples'  feet, 
and  explained  that  so  long  as  their  feet  were  washed  their 
whole  body  would  be  clean.  Now  walking  is  representa¬ 
tive  of  conduct,  and  it  is  with  our  feet  that  we  walk.  We 
wash  with  water,  which  is  representative  of  truth ;  con¬ 
sequently  so  long  as  our  conduct  is  truthful,  sincere  and 
honest — that  is  to  say,  clean,  and  has  been  purified  in  the 


120 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


light  of  truth — we  need  not  trouble  ourselves  much  about 
non-essentials*1 

Let  us  take  another  illustration*  Bread  is  good,  water 
truth*  In  nature  bread  will  not  grow  without  water,  and 
good  is  nothing  without  truth — it  cannot  exist*  Every¬ 
thing  in  nature  has  a  spiritual  correspondence* 

The  Psalms  are  also  full  of  spiritual  meaning*  Whilst 
apparently  only  the  bloodthirsty  war-songs  of  vindictive 
tribal  Kings,  they  represent  the  conflicts  of  the  Church, 
the  triumphs  of  our  Lord,  and  more  particularly 
the  trials  of  each  individual  soul*  Take  for  instance 
Psalm  xxxvii,  where  the  Psalmist  gives  us  hope  and 
confidence  in  the  ultimate  removal  of  our  own  evils,  for 
he  says  that  though  he  had  seen  the  wicked  in  great  power, 
yet  after  a  little  while  there  was  no  trace  of  him  left*  Is 
not  this  an  indication  that  our  own  evils,  which  seem  so 
irresistible,  will  in  time  cease  to  trouble  us  i  And  is  it  not 
consoling  to  be  told  that  a  little  that  a  righteous  man 
possesses  is  *  better  than  the  riches  of  many  wicked/  and 
to  read  :  *  I  have  been  young  and  now  am  old  ;  yet  have 
I  not  seen  the  righteous  forsaken  nor  his  seed  begging 
bread  *  i 

Here  it  may  be  well  to  note  that  when  riches  and 
poverty  are  mentioned  in  the  Bible  spiritual  not  worldly 
riches  and  poverty  are  meant*  The  rich  men  are  conceited 
men,  the  men  conscious  of  their  own  merit*  We  meet 
these  in  our  daily  life,  they  are  the  images  of  rectitude, 
they  are  incapable  of  doing  or  even  thinking  anything 
wrong,  and  they  are  generally  insufferable  prigs,  who 
despise  their  less  fortunate  fellows,  the  sinners  and  the 
publicans.  It  is  not  easy  for  the  self-righteous  to  humble 
themselves  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven*  But  the 
poor  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  the  people  who  possibly  have 
committed  many  sins,  who  are  painfully  aware  of  their 
own  shortcomings,  who  are  penitent,  humble  and  diffident ; 
some  have  even  lost  confidence  in  their  ability  to  reform, 

1  It  was  recently  pointed  out  in  a  medical  paper  that  in  primitive 
countries  this  was  even  literally  true,  as  in  a  healthy  person  the  body 
was  kept  clean  by  the  perspiration  from  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and  it 
was  only  the  feet  that  ever  got  really  dirty.  Of  course  in  civilised 
countries  these  natural  conditions  no  longer  obtain. 


REVELATION 


121 


they  feel  impotent,  they  cannot  bestir  themselves  to  walk 
to  the  pool  with  the  healing  waters,  but  the  Lord  comes 
to  them  and  saves  them* 

The  diversity  and  wealth  of  spiritual  teaching  and 
invigoration  to  be  obtained  from  a  perusal  of  the  Bible 
cannot  even  be  hinted  at*  It  is  an  inexhaustible  mine, 
full  of  precious  stones,  and  gold  and  silver*  But  just  as 
in  the  case  of  a  mine,  to  the  untrained  and  careless  it 
presents  nothing  but  what  is  gross  and  even  valueless,  to 
the  properly  attuned  mind,  on  the  other  hand,  it  abounds 
in  treasure*  To  each  individual  it  brings  a  special  illumina¬ 
tion  adapted  to  his  particular  state*  How  many  people 
have  not  repeated  with  Charles  I  that  wonderful  last 
verse  of  Psalm  xliii  i — ‘  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my 
soul  i  and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  i  hope  in 
God  :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him,  who  is  the  health  of  my 
countenance  and  my  God/ 

Swedenborg  tells  us  that  when  the  Word  is  read  by 
a  person  who  loves  it  and  lives  in  charity,  or  by  someone 
even  who  in  his  simplicity  of  heart  believes  every  word 
he  reads,  but  who  has  formed  no  principles  contrary  to 
the  truth  of  the  internal  sense,  this  latter  is  displayed  by 
the  Lord  to  the  angels  in  such  beauty  and  pleasantness — 
with  representatives  also  in  ineffable  variety  according 
to  the  various  states  in  which  they  are — that  the  least 
particulars  are  seen  by  them  as  living*  This  is  the  life 
which  is  in  the  Word,  and  from  which  the  Word  had 
birth*  The  angels  understand  the  internal  sense  better 
and  more  fully  when  it  is  read  by  children,  than  when  it  is 
read  by  adults  who  are  not  in  the  faith  of  charity*  For 
children  are  in  mutual  love  and  innocence,  and  are  thus 
extremely  tender,  almost  celestial,  vessels  capable,  although 
unconsciously,  of  direct  Divine  disposal*  The  angels 
describe  the  Word  as  a  dead  letter  which  is  vivified^  by 
the  Word  according  to  the  capacity  and  life  of  the 
reader* 

There  can  obviously  be  no  conjunction  with  Heaven 
unless  there  be  somewhere  on  earth  a  Church  which  has 
the  Word  and  knows  the  Lord  through  it*  For  with¬ 
out  Him  there  can  be  no  salvation*  Nevertheless  it  is 


122 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


sufficient  that  there  be  such  a  Church,  no  matter  how  few 
its  members*  This  is  explained  in  the  following  manner* 
The  universal  Heaven  is  as  one  man  before  the  Lord, 
and  so  is  the  Church*  The  Church  in  which  the  Word 
is  read  and  the  Lord  is  known  is  as  the  heart  and  the 
lungs  in  that  man*  And  as  the  human  body  is  kept 
alive  by  these  two  functions  of  life,  so  also  are  all  those 
in  every  part  of  the  world  with  whom  there  is  some  kind 
of  religion,  who  worship  one  God,  live  a  good  life,  and 
thus  form  part  of  that  man* 

In  view  of  all  that  has  preceded,  it  will  cause  no 
surprise  to  learn  that,  according  to  Swedenborg,  the 
Word  is  in  Heaven,  where  it  is  read  by  angels  and  spirits* 
A  copy  of  the  Word  written  by  angels  under  the  Lord's 
inspiration  is  kept  by  every  considerable  society  in  a 
sacred  repository  appointed  for  that  purpose,  lest  it 
should  suffer  alteration,  and  the  angels  confess  that  they 
derive  all  their  wisdom  from  this  source* 

After  this,  what  importance  attaches  to  the  higher 
criticism  i  What  does  it  matter  who  the  so-called 
authors  of  the  various  books  may  be  i  Swedenborg  has 
given  us  a  key,  or  a  test,  in  his  *  Arcana  Coelestia  *  and  his 
*  Apocalypse  Revealed/  by  means  of  which  it  is  easy  to 
determine  whether  they  are  merely  old  folk-lore  or 
genuinely  inspired  writings*  That  key  is  the  internal 
sense.  The  Word  contains  within  it  the  marriage  of 
goodness  and  truth,  and  must  therefore  be  instinct  with 
wisdom*  The  human  intermediary,  the  often  uncon¬ 
scious  messenger,  is  unimportant* 


CHAPTER  VII 
Prayer 

One  of  the  most  difficult  and  perplexing  problems  of 
religious  men  is  the  question  of  prayer*  Worship  and 
adoration  are  not  inexplicable*  That  people  should 
assemble  together  and  offer  up  praise  to  their  Maker 
strikes  nobody  as  incongruous*  To  a  cynic  like  Douglas 
Jerrold,  it  might  offer  occasion  for  a  sneer ;  and  we  all 
know  Defoe's  lines  : 

When  God  erects  Himself  a  house  of  prayer 
The  Devil  always  builds  a  chapel  there. 

And  'twill  be  found  upon  examination 
The  latter  has  the  larger  congregation. 

No  doubt  the  jibe  is  deserved*  Too  many  people  when 
worshipping  at  church  are  animated  by  the  same  feelings 
which  our  Lord  reprehended  in  the  Pharisee*  They 
consider  that  they  are  ingratiating  themselves  with  God 
by  their  piety,  and  thus  establishing  their  superiority 
over  those  who  are  less  assiduous,  less  constant  in  their 
devotions,  and  less  confident  in  their  own  righteousness. 
But,  on  general  lines,  praise  and  worship  should  offer 
no  real  difficulties  to  the  religious  man,  or  even  to  the 
irreligious — it  is  not  contrary  to  common  sense,  it  is  not 
repugnant  to  reason* 

But  when  we  come  to  prayer  for  material  benefits, 
such  as  prayer  for  victory  in  war,  prayer  for  recovery 
from  sickness,  prayer  for  rain,  prayer  for  success  in  some 
worldly  enterprise,  then  we  are  on  very  different  ground. 

In  John  xv*  13-14,  our  Lord,  speaking  to  His  disciples, 


124 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


says  :  *  And  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  that 
will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son, 
If  ye  shall  ask  anything  in  my  name,  I  will  do  it/ 

That  is  a  clear  and  definite  promise.  Moreover,  in 
Luke  xi,  we  have  the  following  : 

And  he  said  unto  them,  Which  of  you  shall  have  a  friend,  and 
shall  go  unto  him  at  midnight,  and  say  unto  him,  Friend,  lend 
me  three  loaves,  for  a  friend  of  mine  in  his  journey  is  come 
to  me,  and  I  have  nothing  to  set  before  him  i  And  he  from 
within  shall  answer  and  say.  Trouble  me  not :  the  door  is  now 
shut,  and  my  children  are  with  me  in  bed  ;  I  cannot  rise  and 
give  thee.  I  say  unto  you.  Though  he  will  not  rise  and  give 
him  because  he  is  his  friend,  yet  because  of  his  importunity  he 
will  rise  and  give  him  as  many  as  he  needeth.  And  I  say  unto 
you,  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ; 
knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  For  every  one  that 
asketh  receiveth,  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth  ;  and  to  him  that 
knocketh  it  shall  be  opened.  If  a  son  shall  ask  bread  of  any  of 
you  that  is  a  father,  will  he  give  him  a  stone  i  or  if  he  ask  a  fish, 
will  he  for  a  fish  give  him  a  serpent  i  Or  if  he  shall  ask  an  egg, 
will  he  offer  him  a  scorpion  i  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  unto  your  children  :  how  much  more  shall  your 
heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  unto  them  that  ask  him  i 

From  this  passage  it  would,  however,  seem  to  appear 
that  the  benefits  to  be  expected  to  be  derived  from  prayer 
are  spiritual  rather  than  material.  And  yet  we  find 
prayers  said  in  church  for  material  things,  and  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  we  have  even  masses  for  the 
souls  of  the  departed,  by  means  of  which  the  rich,  who 
can  afford  it,  can  get  their  relatives  and  friends  out  of 
purgatory  more  quickly  than  the  poor,  who  have  not  the 
wherewithal  to  pay.  The  case  thus  put  makes  religion 
seem  rather  sordid.  But  all  creeds  encourage  prayer  in 
warfare.  We  know  that  when  the  Normans  invaded 
England  they  spent  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Hastings 
in  prayer,  whilst  the  English  spent  it  in  carousing,  feast¬ 
ing,  and  merriment.  The  result  has  always  been  taken 
as  an  object-lesson  and  an  illustration  of  the  efficacy  of 
prayer.  But  when  both  opposing  forces  are  equally  pious 
the  position  becomes  somewhat  puzding. 


PRAYER 


125 


Then  it  must,  on  reflection,  seem  rather  childish  to 
suppose  that  the  Allwise  Governor  of  the  Universe,  that 
an  Almighty  God,  could  be  affected  by  the  self-interested 
prayers  of  His  creatures*  We  know  God  to  be  infinite 
Love  and  Wisdom,  and  yet  we  imagine  that  that  infinite 
Love  and  Wisdom  can  be  deflected  from  an  infinitely 
wise  and  benevolent  purpose  by  the  petitions  of  his 
fallible,  selfish,  and  short-sighted  creatures  ! 

The  whole  question  is  difficult*  Its  difficulties  are 
best  illustrated  by  two  irreverent  stories*  One  is  of  a 
little  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  doctor,  who  prayed  that  her 
father  and  mother  might  be  kept  in  good  health,  but  that 
there  might  be  much  sickness  in  the  neighbourhood  so  that 
her  father  might  have  many  patients.  The  other  is  that 
of  the  American  trapper  who  found  himself  face  to  face 
with  a  bear  and  prayed  to  the  Almighty,  beseeching  Him, 
in  this  terrible  moment,  if  He  could  not  see  His  way  to 
help  him  to  get  the  better  of  the  bear,  at  least  not  to 
favour  the  latter. 

The  materialist,  of  course,  regards  prayer  as  an 
absurdity,  and  even  a  believer  in  the  existence  of  a  Deity 
must  have  his  doubts  as  to  whether  the  whole  idea  was 
not  childish*  A  medical  man  in  Russia,  in  pre-revolution 
days,  when  favours  could  only  be  obtained  by  patronage 
and  by  soliciting  the  support  and  influence  of  those 
possessed  of  power,  claimed  great  merit  for  never  having 
importuned  the  Deity,  who  must,  as  it  is,  be  overwhelmed 
by  petitioners  !  This,  again,  is  childish*  But,  as  already 
observed,  the  whole  idea  of  prayer  is  childish*  We  are, 
indeed,  enjoined  in  the  Gospels  to  approach  God  as  little 
children,  otherwise  we  cannot  hope  to  enter  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven* 

That,  indeed,  is  the  whole  object  of  creation,  the 
peopling  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven*  If  we  regard  life 
from  this  angle,  we  shall  necessarily  take  a  very  different 
view  of  prayer*  To  the  gross,  carnally  minded,  average 
sensual  man,  the  success  of  his  undertakings  on  earth, 
his  material  comfort  and  prosperity,  are  far  more  important 
than  the  visionary  and  illusive  question  of  his  spiritual 
welfare.  Nor  is  it  in  the  Divine  scheme  of  things  that 


126 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


man  should  take  a  gloomy  view  of  this  temporal  world, 
should  be  always  thinking  of  his  immortal  soul,  and 
should  regard  the  pleasures  of  life  with  morbid  abhorrence* 
God  wants  man  to  be  happy  and  cheerful  in  this  life  as 
well  as  in  the  next*  But  we  must  never  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  this  earth  is  not  our  abiding  city,  and  that 
pleasant  as  the  good  things  of  this  world  may  be,  they 
turn  to  dust,  like  Dead  Sea  fruit,  if  we  fix  our  whole 
affections  on  them*  We  are  told  to  seek  first  the  Lord 
and  His  righteousness,  and  that  then  *  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  us/  And  prayer  is  one  of  the 
means  by  which  we  may  obtain  the  power  or  strength 
to  turn  our  backs,  so  to  speak,  on  our  own  self-will, 
and  to  open  the  door  for  the  admission  of  the  Lord  and 
His  righteousness* 

We  must  come  to  God  like  little  children,  and  when 
in  that  state  it  need  cause  no  surprise  if  we  are  childish 
in  our  prayers* 

Now  let  us  see  what  light  Swedenborg  throws  on  this 
perplexing  problem  of  prayer* 

Prayer  [he  says]  in  itself  considered  is  discourse  with  God ; 
and  there  is  then  a  certain  internal  intuition  of  those  things 
which  are  objects  of  prayer  corresponding  to  which  there  is 
something  like  influx  into  the  perception  or  thoughts  of  the 
mind  of  the  person  who  prays  ;  so  that  there  is  a  kind  of  open¬ 
ing  of  man's  interiors  towards  God.  But  this  varies  according 
to  the  person's  state  and  according  to  the  essence  of  the  thing 
which  is  the  object  of  prayer*  If  it  be  from  love  and  faith, 
and  only  for  celestial  and  spiritual  things  that  the  prayers  are 
said,  then  there  exists  something  which  resembles  revelation 
in  the  prayer,  and  this  is  manifested  in  the  affection  in  the  person 
who  prays,  in  respect  to  hope,  consolation,  or  some  internal 
joy*  Hence  it  is  that  prayer  in  the  internal  sense  signifies 
revelation* 

Elsewhere  he  explains  that  in  the  Bible  alms  represent 
in  the  universal  sense  all  the  good  a  person  does  and 
intends  or  desires  to  do,  while  prayer  similarly  represents 
the  truth  spoken  and  manifested*  To  do  alms  and  pray 
in  secret  is  to  act  and  pray  from  love  or  affection,  hence, 
for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  and  not  from  self-love  or  love 


PRAYER 


127 

of  the  world,  and  will  be  rewarded  by  the  Father  in  the 
Heavens  openly*  (Matt*  vi*  4-6*) 

Indeed,  he  explains  that  worship  does  not  consist  in 
prayers  and  outward  devotion,  but  in  a  life  of  charity. 
Prayers  are  only  the  externals  which  proceed  from  the 
mouth*  Humble  attitudes,  genuflexions,  and  sighs  are 
merely  outward  things*  According  to  the  quality  of  the 
affections  such  is  the  prayer,  and  therefore  the  primary 
part  of  worship  is  a  life  of  charity,  and  prayer  is  secondary. 
Those  who  place  all  Divine  worship  in  oral  piety  only, 
and  not  in  piety  exhibited  by  a  good  life,  are  in  great 
error*  Real  piety  consists  in  acting  in  every  department 
of  life,  in  work  and  play,  from  sincerity  and  rectitude, 
according  to  justice  and  equity,  because  this  is  commanded 
by  the  Lord  in  the  Word*  Thus  David  said  in  Psalm 
Ixvi* :  *  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will 
not  hear*  Verily  God  hath  heard  ;  he  hath  attended  to 
the  voice  of  my  prayer/  When  a  man  is  in  the  life  of 
charity  he  may  be  said  to  be  in  a  state  of  continuous 
prayer,  for  whatever  pertains  to  a  man's  love  is,  even 
though  unconsciously,  ever  present  in  his  thought. 

8$.  Nevertheless,  it  is  well  to  practise  external  worship, 
for  by  external  worship  internal  things  are  awakened, 
and  external  things  are  kept  by  external  worship  in  a 
state  of  sanctity,  so  as  to  admit  of  the  flowing  in  of  the 
internal*  Moreover,  man  is  thus  caused  to  imbibe 
knowledge  and  prepared  to  receive  celestial  things,  that 
he  may  be  endowed  unconsciously  with  states  of  sanctity, 
which  are  preserved  by  the  Lord  for  him,  for  in  the  next 
world  all  man's  states  of  life  return  to  him* 

It  is  essential  that  there  should  be  humiliation  in  all 
worship,  otherwise  there  is  no  adoration,  and  con¬ 
sequently  there  can  be  no  real  heartfelt  worship*  in  the 
degree  to  which  man  humbles  himself  in  his  heart,  self- 
love  and  the  evils  derived  from  it  cease,  and  charity 
and  faith  flow  in  from  the  Lord*  For  self-love  closes 
the  door  to  charity  and  faith  because  it  contains  within 
it  contempt  of  others  in  comparison  with  oneself,  and 
hatred  and  revenge  towards  those  who  do  not  bow  to  us* 
Swedenborg  says,  somewhat  severely  : 


128 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


The  worship  of  God  at  this  day  means  principally  the 
worship  of  the  lips  in  a  temple  morning  and  evening*  But 
[he  adds]  the  worship  of  God  does  not  consist  essentially  in 
this,  but  in  a  useful  life.  This  is  worship  according  to  the 
order  of  Heaven.  The  worship  of  the  lips  is  also  worship,  but 
it  is  absolutely  unavailing  without  the  worship  of  life  ;  for  the 
latter  is  worship  from  the  heart,  or  will,  and  the  former  in  order 
to  be  genuine  worship  must  proceed  from  the  latter. 

When  we  are  in  course  of  purification  from  evils  and 
errors,  and  in  goodness  and  truth,  then  only  are  we  in 
genuine  worship.  Purification  from  evils  and  errors  is 
effected  by  desisting  from  them,  and  finally  holding  them 
in  aversion.  Goodness  and  truth  are  implanted  by  think¬ 
ing  and  purposing  what  is  good  and  true,  and  speaking 
and  doing  the  same.  By  joining  these  two  there  is  life 
from  them,  for  when  goodness  and  truth  are  united  in 
us  we  obtain  a  new  will  and  a  new  understanding,  and 
therefore  new  life.  When  we  become  of  such  a  character, 
then  there  is  Divine  worship  in  every  work  we  do,  for 
we  then  look  to  God  in  everything,  venerate  Him,  love 
Him,  and  consequently  worship  Him.  Such  a  state  is  a 
state  of  genuine  Divine  worship. 

The  belief  generally  prevailing  in  the  world  is  that 
prayer  and  worship  originate  with  man  because  they  are 
produced  by  his  thoughts  and  affections.  But  Sweden¬ 
borg  declares  that  the  worship  which  is  from  man  is  not 
true  worship  at  all,  and  that  consequently  all  the  confes¬ 
sions,  adorations,  and  prayers  that  originate  from  ourselves 
are  empty  and  void  and  are  not  received.  Our  worship 
must  be  from  the  Lord  in  us.  Of  this  the  Church  is 
fully  aware,  for  it  teaches  that  no  good  proceeds  from 
man,  but  that  all  good  is  from  Heaven,  or  from  God  in 
Heaven.  This  is  why  the  Church  prays  that  God  may 
be  present  and  lead  the  thoughts  and  prayers  of  the 
congregation.  Swedenborg  explains  the  exact  process. 
When  man  is  in  genuine  worship,  the  Lord  flows  into 
the  goodness  and  truth  that  are  in  him  and  raises  them 
up  to  Himself  together  with  the  man,  according  to  the 
degree  and  manner  in  which  he  is  in  goodness  and  truth. 
Of  this  man  is  not  aware  unless  he  be  in  the  genuine 


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129 


affection  of  goodness  and  truth  and  in  the  knowledge, 
acknowledgment  and  faith,  that  all  goodness  comes  from 
the  Lord.  Nevertheless,  man  should  not  wait  for  influx, 
for  this  would  be  to  act  the  part  of  a  lifeless  image.  He 
ought  still  to  think,  purpose,  and  act  as  from  himself, 
but  yet  ascribe  to  the  Lord  every  thought  of  truth  and 
every  good  effort ;  thereby  there  is  implanted  in  him 
by  the  Lord  the  ability  to  receive  Him  and  His 
influx. 

The  essence  of  Divine  love  is  like  the  love  of  parents 
for  their  children,  who  do  good  to  the  latter  for  love  of 
them,  and  not  for  their  own  sakes,  but  for  the  sake  of 
the  children.  This  is  exemplified  in  the  love  of  a  mother 
for  infants.  Because  the  Lord  should  be  adored,  wor¬ 
shipped,  and  glorified,  we  must  not  conclude  that  this 
should  be  done  because  He  loves  to  be  thus  adored, 
worshipped,  and  glorified  for  His  own  sake.  He  loves 
this  for  man's  sake,  because  by  means  of  such  worship 
man  comes  into  a  state  which  enables  the  Divine  to  flow 
into  him,  and  be  perceived  by  him.  For,  when  in  a 
state  of  genuine  worship,  man  automatically  removes  his 
self-love,  which  had  prevented  this  influx  and  perception, 
for  his  self-love  hardens  and  closes  his  heart.  By  acknow¬ 
ledging  that  nothing  but  evil  comes  from  himself  he 
removes  his  self-love,  softens  his  heart  and  humiliates 
himself,  with  a  resultant  outpouring  of  adoration  and 
worship.  The  use  therefore  which  the  Lord  derives 
from  man's  worship  is  the  ability  to  do  him  good  from 
love,  and  as  this  is  what  the  Lord  loves  to  do,  man's 
reception  of  His  influx  is  the  joy  of  His  love.  The  Lord 
does  not,  however,  derive  any  such  joy  from  mere  lip 
service.  He  has  His  abode  only  with  those  who  do  His 
commandments,  and  thus  perform  uses,  though  even 
those  are  at  best  but  unprofitable  servants. 

Having  thus  explained  the  object  of  prayer  and  the 
state  we  should  be  in,  if  our  worship  is  to  be  genuine — 
and  no  other  is  of  any  value — let  us  consider  what  form 
our  spoken  prayer  should  take.  This  is  a  very  simple 
matter,  seeing  that  our  Lord  has  Himself  left  us  a  form 
of  prayer  which  He  enjoined  His  disciples  to  use.  For 


130 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


He  told  them  :  *  When  ye  pray,  use  not  vain  repetitions, 
as  the  heathen  do  :  for  they  think  that  they  shall  be  heard 
for  their  much  speaking.  Be  not  ye  therefore  like  unto 
them  :  for  your  Father  knoweth  what  things  ye  have 
need  of  before  ye  ask  him.  After  this  manner,  therefore, 
pray  ye  ' :  and  He  then  formulated  what  has  come  to  be 
known  as  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  is  said  to-day  wherever 
the  Christian  religion  is  professed.  It  is  the  most 
marvellous  prayer  in  the  whole  annals  of  worship.  It 
is  short,  it  contains  everything,  it  is  instinct  with 
wisdom,  every  word  bears  the  imprimatur  of  its  Divine 
origin. 

To  the  average  simple-minded  believer  it  appeals  as 
strongly  and  is  as  full  of  comfort  and  promise  as  it  is 
full  of  wisdom  and  spiritual  meaning  to  the  wise. 
Emanating,  as  it  does,  immediately  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord,  it  is  full  of  spiritual  lessons  comprised  within 
an  extraordinarily  small  compass.  If  the  ordinary  text 
of  the  Bible  is  divinely  inspired,  and  full  of  spiritual 
truths  and  internal  meaning,  how  much  more  profound 
and  instinct  with  wisdom  must  not  be  these  simple  but 
beautiful  words  of  our  Lord  i 

The  prayer  is,  in  the  first  part,  an  act  of  faith  ;  it  is 
addressed  to  our  Father  in  the  Heavens,  whose  Kingdom, 
we  pray,  may  come,  and  whose  will  should  be  done,  on 
earth,  as  it  is  in  Heaven,  and  whose  name  is  holy.  All 
we  are  enjoined  to  ask  for  is  our  daily  bread,  and  we  must 
be  as  much  in  a  state  of  charity  as  we  should  be  in  one 
of  faith,  for  we  are  enjoined  to  ask  for  the  forgiveness  of 
our  sins  in  the  same  degree  only,  and  to  but  the  same 
extent,  as  we  forgive  our  enemies.  We  are  also  told  to 
pray  for  exemption  from  temptation  and  deliverance  from 
evil ;  but  in  doing  so  we  must  acknowledge  that  this  can 
only  be  effected  through  the  power  of  God,  and  that  the 
glory  of  our  salvation  is  His  also,  not  merely  here  on 
earth,  but  to  all  eternity,  for  it  is  by  His  mercy  that  we 
are  not  consumed. 

This  is  a  brief  and  superficial  survey  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  Let  us  examine  it  in  the  light  of  Swedenborg's 
teachings,  and  endeavour  to  discover  at  least  some  of  the 


PRAYER 


131 

innumerable  truths  which  lie  encased,  as  it  were,  in  these 
beautiful  and  pregnant  words*1 

God  is  Jehovah  in  Hebrew,  in  Revelations  we  are  told 
He  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  beginning  and  the 
end,  the  first  and  the  last*  In  the  Greek  alphabet  this  is 
literally  the  case,  Alpha  being  the  first  and  Omega  the 
last  letter*  Now  we  are  told  by  Swedenborg  that  each 
letter  in  the  alphabet  signifies  something  in  the  spiritual 
world,  and  each  vowel  signifies  something  of  affection* 
God  is  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,  Alpha  and  Omega, 
Jehovah  ;  it  is  easy  to  see  that  Alpha  stands  for  Divine 
Love,  and  Omega  for  Divine  Wisdom*  Now,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  addressed  directly  to  the  Father,  Vater,  Pater, 
Otyetz  (pronounced  Ahtyztz).  In  Russian  we  see  how 
the  wisdom  of  the  0  frequently  loses  its  identity  and  is 
pronounced  a,  is  merged  into  love*  Thus  our  prayers 
are  to  be  said  to  the  Divine  Love,  beneficently  operating, 
as  typified  by  being  in  the  heavens — it  is  the  Divine  Good 
in  the  Divine  Truth* 

Swedenborg  states  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  daily  read 
in  Heaven,  as  it  is  by  men  on  earth,  and  that  the  angels 
do  not  then  think  of  God,  the  Father,  because  He  is 
invisible ;  but  they  think  of  Him  in  His  Divine  Human, 
because  in  this  He  is  visible*  In  this  Human  form  He 
is  not  called  by  them  Christ,  but  Lord  ;  and  thus  the 
Lord  is  their  Father  in  Heaven*  In  another  passage, 
speaking  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  he  says  : 

In  this  prayer  all  things  follow  in  such  a  series  that  they 
constitute  as  it  were  a  column  increasing  from  the  highest  part  to 
the  lowest*  In  the  interiors  of  this  are  those  things  which  pre¬ 
cede  in  the  series  ;  what  is  first  (or  highest)  is  inmost  and  what 
follows  in  order  adds  itself  in  succession  to  the  inmost,  and  thus 
it  increases*  What  is  inmost  governs  universally  in  those  things 
which  surround  it,  that  is  in  each  and  all  things,  for  hence  is  the 
essential  of  the  existence  of  all* 

This  somewhat  obscure  passage  is  elucidated  by 
another,  in  which  we  are  told  : 

1  For  a  more  elaborate  examination  we  refer  the  reader  to  a  work 
entitled  ‘  The  Kensington  New  Church  Pulpit  :  Sermons  on  the  Lord’s 
Prayer,’  by  the  Rev.  Thos.  Child.  London. 


132 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


That  there  are  innumerable  things  within  the  ideas  of 
thought,  and  that  they  are  within  them  in  order  from  the 
interiors,  has  been  evident  to  me  when  in  the  morning  and 
evening  I  have  been  reading  the  Lord's  Prayer.  The  ideas 
of  my  thoughts  were  then  constantly  opened  towards  Heaven, 
and  innumerable  things  flowed  in,  so  that  I  clearly  observed 
that  the  ideas  of  thought  received  from  the  contents  of  the 
Prayer  were  made  full  from  Heaven.  And  such  things  were 
poured  in  too,  as  cannot  be  uttered,  and  such  also  as  I  could 
not  comprehend  ;  I  was  also  sensible  of  the  general  affection 
thence  resulting.  And  it  is  wonderful  that  the  things  which 
flowed  in  were  varied  every  day.  From  this  it  was  given  me 
to  know  that  there  are  more  things  in  the  contents  of  that 
Prayer  than  the  universal  heaven  has  capacity  to  comprehend  ; 
and  that  to  man  there  are  more  things  in  it  in  proportion  as 
his  thought  is  more  opened  towards  heaven  ;  and  on  the  other 
hand  that  there  are  fewer  things  in  it  in  proportion  as  his 
thought  is  more  closed.  To  those  indeed  whose  thought  is 
closed  nothing  more  appears  therein  than  the  sense  of  the  letter, 
or  the  sense  which  is  nearest  to  the  words. 

After  this  it  sounds  like  presumption  to  endeavour  to 
expound  some  of  the  meaning  of  the  internal  sense  of 
the  Lord's  Prayer ;  fortunately,  however,  such  an  attempt 
has  been  made  in  the  work  of  the  Rev.  Thos.  Child,  and 
of  this  we  propose  to  give  a  very  brief  abstract,  as  the 
space  at  our  command  will  not  permit  of  our  doing  more. 

Mr.  Child  begins  with  the  two  existent  conceptions 
of  prayer — the  one  that  God's  will  can  be  influenced  by 
us,  and  that,  to  put  it  shortly,  we  are  our  own  providence 
because  God  is  pledged  to  do  what  we  ask  ;  the  other  is 
that  the  only  value  of  prayer  is  its  self-humiliating  effect 
on  ourselves  ;  and  then  proceeds  to  show  what  is  the 
real  object  of  prayer — as  this  has  been  fully  explained 
above  we  need  not  recapitulate  it  here.  But  he  draws 
attention  to  the  fact  that  we  are  enjoined  to  pray  in  secret. 
What  can  that  mean  {  Is  it  a  prohibition  of  all  public 
worship  i  This  would  put  an  end  to  church  services, 
and  clearly  cannot  be  the  meaning.  No,  but  when  we 
pray  we  must  mentally  retire  into  the  inner  secret  place 
of  the  soul,  where  the  internal  good  of  our  soul  is 
stored.  We  are  to  shut  the  door  and  shut  out  all  world- 


PRAYER 


133 

liness  and  all  love  of  self,  all  evil  passions  and  earthly 
desires. 

We  should  address  our  prayer  to  *  Our  Father  Who 
art  in  Heaven/  the  Divine  Good  in  the  Divine  Truth, 
Our  Father  is  the  Lord  Himself,  the  Person,  the  Divine 
Human  made  visible.  The  Divine  Humanity  is  indeed 
the  Father  of  our  humanity.  In  the  chapter  on  the 
Deity  this  will  be  more  fully  explained.  Having  invoked 
God,  we  are  to  acknowledge  that  His  name  should  be 
kept  holy — should  be  hallowed.  In  the  chapter  on  Ethics, 
in  which  we  have  briefly  examined  the  meaning  of  the 
Commandments,  we  dwelt  upon  the  significance  of  the 
Name  of  God,  The  Name  of  God  is  that  by  which, 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  we  are  to  be  saved.  Obviously 
this  must  signify  the  instilment  into  our  own  souls  of  the 
living  and  Divine  force  proceeding  from  God,  We  are 
impotent  to  hallow  or  sanctify  the  Name  of  God  :  what 
can  therefore  be  meant  by  this  injunction  that  we  should 
in  our  prayers  tell  God  that  His  Name  should  be  hallowed  i 
Surely  the  qualities  of  God  are  holy  already  !  But  by 
hallowing  the  Name  of  God,  we  make  it  holy  in  ourselves, 
we  think  of  Him  as  holy,  we  believe  in  Him  as  holy,  as 
the  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom,  as  all  goodness  and  truth. 
Thus,  by  expressing  the  desire  that  God's  Name  be 
hallowed,  we  are  offering  up  a  prayer  that  our  souls  may 
be  attuned  to  receive  the  Divine  influx,  and  so  become 
images  of  our  Maker, 

*  Thy  Kingdom  come  '  follows  immediately  after  this 
prayer,  and  it  must  be  so.  If  we  are  to  hallow  God's 
Name  we  must  pray  for  this  rule  to  be  established  in  our 
hearts.  It  is  not  a  worldly  or  material  kingdom  that  is 
here  prayed  for  in  the  first  instance,  yet  if  we  reflect  on 
the  effect  of  the  rule  of  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom  firmly 
seated  in  our  hearts,  we  must  acknowledge  that  such 
internal  spiritual  dominion  would  extend  to  material  and 
worldly  things,  and  that  the  establishment  of  God's 
Kingdom  in  us  would  mean  the  millennium  on  earth. 
It  is  the  wicked  who  refuse  to  carry  out  God's  will, 
together  with  the  grossly  material  and  ignorant,  who 
regard  this  world  as  being  in  the  realm  of  nature,  and 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


134 

therefore  totally  unrelated  and  unconnected  with  God  : 
it  is  these  who  are  the  obstacles,  the  retarding  factors, 
who  prevent  the  coming  of  God's  Kingdom.  But  there 
is  another  way  in  which  God's  Kingdom  can  come  ;  it 
can  come  into  every  individual  soul,  and  there  where 
God's  rule  is  admitted,  His  laws  are  obeyed — thus  is 
that  soul  saved. 

Our  Lord  said  that  His  Kingdom  was  not  of  this 
world  ;  it  is  a  spiritual  kingdom  founded  on  Divine  Truth, 
and  it  is  by  means  of  the  principles  of  truth  that  it  is 
governed. 

Here  we  must  let  Mr.  Child  speak  in  his  own 
words  : 

When  we  pray  then  *  Thy  Kingdom  come  '  what  is  it  we 
should  be  understanding^  praying  for  i  We  pray,  or  should 
be  praying,  that  there  shall  be  a  real  perception  of  the  Lord's 
relation  to  His  people  and  to  the  world  in  that  Kingdom — 
that  He  alone  is  the  governing  power,  the  King  of  men  ;  that 
all  truths  applicable  to  our  natural  life  shall  be  taken  from  the 
Scriptures  and  not  from  the  mere  decisions  of  conventional 
appearances,  which  have  grown  up  independently  of,  and  con¬ 
trary  to,  any  such  truth  ;  that  the  spiritual  truth  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  must  be  appealed  to  at  every  step  ;  that  the  fundamental 
truth  of  the  Kingdom  shall  be  that  of  the  Love  and  Wisdom  of 
the  governing  Lord  ;  and  that  the  principle  flowing  immediately 
from  that  as  the  practical  basis  of  the  Lord's  Kingdom,  may  be 
the  brotherhood  of  man. 

God's  Kingdom  is  obviously  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
and  this,  our  Lord  told  us,  should  be  within  us — hence 
we  are  enjoined  to  pray  that  it  may  come  there. 

But,  if  we  wish  to  have  the  Kingdom  of  God  within 
us,  we  must  bow  to  the  will  of  God  ;  we  must  mortify 
our  own  desires,  we  must  renounce  our  self-love,  and  we 
must  add  to  the  prayer  for  the  advent  of  God's  Kingdom 
in  our  souls,  the  further  prayer  contained  in  the  words 
*  Thy  will  be  done.'  It  is  not  sufficient  to  believe  in 
God  ;  we  must  do  His  will,  and  not  only  in  the  higher 
or  interior  regions  of  the  intellect,  but  even  on  the 
material  plane. 

Every  man  on  earth  has  the  possibilities  of  Heaven 


PRAYER 


i35 


within  him*  Just  as  he  has  faculties  for  all  things  of 
this  world,  and  the  ability  to  acquire  knowledge  con¬ 
cerning  nature  and  worldly  matters,  to  perceive  facts 
outside  himself,  so  also  has  he  the  ability  or  faculty  of 
receiving  spiritually  the  laws  of  spiritual  truth,  so  that 
as  the  will  of  the  Lord  is  done  in  the  heaven  within  him, 
it  may  also  be  done  in  the  earth  within  him  ;  moreover, 
he  must  know  and  believe  that  any  good  he  may  do  is 
not  from  himself,  it  is  the  Divine  Will  working  within 
him  which  he  is  doing*  As  Mr*  Child  puts  it,  this 
prayer  therefore  means  : 

Lord,  let  Thy  will  that  is  now  being  done  in  and  through  me 
as  a  denizen  of  Heaven  be  done  also  in  and  through  me  as  a 
denizen  of  the  earth*  As  I  try  to  gather  up  and  obey  the  laws 
of  this  heavenly  life  received  from  Heaven,  let  me  develop  into 
a  conscious  spiritual  mind*  But  as  there  are  higher  things  in 
me  as  yet  scarcely  dreamed  of,  not  only  thoughts  and  truths, 
but  desires  and  affections,  *  *  *  let  me  daily  persevere  in  this 
upward  way*  The  opening  of  these  degrees  of  my  mind  con¬ 
stituted  the  opening  of  Heaven  in  me,  and  means,  step  by  step, 
the  descent  of  the  corresponding  Divine  influx  into  it  *  *  . 
I  would  that  *  *  *  as  Thy  Will  is  done  in  Heaven  in  me  it  may 
also  be  done  in  the  earth  of  my  natural  mind* 

It  is  only  by  bringing  our  natural  desires  and  wishes 
into  harmony  with  the  laws  of  God,  as  manifested  to  us 
in  His  commandments,  that  we  can  attain  happiness  and 
peace*  We  must  do  God's  will  on  earth,  as  we  know  it 
is  done  in  Heaven*  We  can  achieve  states  in  which  we 
can  intellectually  and  spiritually  concur  in  the  spiritual 
application  and  enforcement  of  God's  will  in  the  intel¬ 
lectual  and  spiritual  regions  of  our  mind,  but  when  it 
comes  to  applying  it  to  natural  life,  then  we  are  beset 
with  difficulties*  But  if  we  of  set  purpose  deliberately 
determine  to  use  our  best  endeavours  to  carry  out  in  our 
lives  the  Will  of  God,  we  shall  find  gradually  that  this 
was  not  so  difficult  as  it  seemed,  and  that  if  we  take  the 
Lord's  yoke  upon  us  we  shall  feel  it  easy  and  His  burden 
light*  Then  we  shall  find  ourselves  ascending  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  kingdom,  which  has  now  come  to 
us,  even  to  the  celestial  life  of  the  hallowing  of  God's 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


136 

Name*  But  God's  will  must  be  done  on  earth,  even  as 
it  is  in  Heaven* 

It  is  not  the  accomplishment  of  our  wishes  that  we 
are  thus  enjoined  to  pray  for — no,  we  are  told  to  pray 
that  God's  will  may  be  done,  not  our  own  ;  and,  indeed, 
we  may  at  first  be  not  too  anxious  for  this  to  be  effected 
within  us,  we  may  be  quite  content  to  go  on  as  we  have 
been  going  on,  leading  probably  a  self-indulgent  life*  We 
might  like  to  have  a  few  things  added  to  our  happiness  : 
who,  indeed,  is  content  i  But  we  have  very  often  a 
strange  shrinking  and  aversion  to  spiritual  experience, 
to  self-improvement,  and  to  advancement  in  the  heavenly 
graces,  while  we  are  on  earth  at  least.  But  the  injunction 
is  clear  and  unmistakable  :  *  After  this  manner  pray  ye,' 
and  then  the  disciples  are  told  to  pray  that  God's  will 
may  be  done,  as  in  Heaven,  so  upon  earth*  There  is  no 
question  of  asking  for  personal  earthly  benefits,  but  a 
direct  command  to  humble  ourselves  before  God  and  to 
submit  to  His  will. 

To  some  this  may  seem  arbitrary*  Why  should  God 
want  us  to  forgo  our  own  wishes,  and  to  pray  only  that 
His  will  may  be  done,  that  we  should  so  far  renounce 
our  own  individuality,  deny  ourselves,  and  ignore  our 
immediate  wants,  as  to  make  our  souls  and  minds  vehicles 
only  for  the  Divine  will  i 

In  the  first  instance,  it  is  because  God  wills  to  save 
our  souls — that  is  the  all-important  object  of  the  Divine 
will,  the  saving  of  men's  souls  :  we  should  not  oppose 
that,  we  should  wish  that  it  might  be  carried  out,  that 
we  should  be  regenerated  throughout,  so  that  God's  will 
may  be  done  within  us  as  in  Heaven  so  upon  earth* 

Moreover,  God's  will  is  not  arbitrary,  it  is  essentially 
wise  in  its  benevolence*  God  is  order  ;  in  Heaven  there 
must  be  Divine  order  ;  it  is  for  us  to  endeavour  to  establish 
that  order  on  earth,  so  as  to  be  happy  ourselves  and 
diffuse  happiness  around  us* 

Yet,  although  we  are  thus  enjoined  to  pray  that  God's 
will  may  be  done,  we  are  also  instructed  to  pray  for  our 
own  needs,  for  our  daily  bread*  In  the  French  version 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer  this  is  rendered  as  *  pain  quotidien *' 


PRAYER 


137 


Now,  quotidien  means,  literally, 4  daily  recurring ' :  hence  it 
is  the  bread  that  we  need  every  day,  and  is  what  is  meant 
in  the  original  Greek ;  in  other  words,  this  is  a  prayer  for 
our  recurring  necessities.  Let  us  probe  a  little  deeper. 
We  have  seen  in  the  chapter  on  4  Revelation  '  that  the  first 
six  days  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  refer  to  states 
in  the  human  soul  which  is  in  process  of  regeneration. 
Consequently,  daily  bread  must  refer  to  the  needs  of  the 
state  in  which  we  may  be  at  the  time.  We  know  that 
our  Lord  always  spoke  in  parables.  What,  then,  did  He 
mean  by  bread  i  Bread  is  the  product  of  corn  grown  in 
the  earth  (external  goodness,  also  the  Church),  a  growth 
stimulated  by  water  (truth).  That  corn  has  to  be  reaped 
by  man,  ground  by  man,  baked  by  man  before  it  becomes 
bread,  which  we  then  eat  and  assimilate,  and  nourish  our 
system  with.  If  wTe  refer  to  Swedenborg's  *  Arcana 
Ccelestia '  we  find,  in  the  Index,  bread  defined  as  follows  : 

Bread  denotes  all  food  in  general.  Bread  denotes  every¬ 
thing  celestial  and  spiritual.  Bread  denotes  the  primary 
principle  which  nourishes  the  soul.  The  bread  on  the  table 
in  the  tabernacle  represented  celestial  and  spiritual  love,  and 
in  it  the  Lord  Himself,  Bread,  in  the  Holy  Supper,  signifies  the 
Lord,  consequently  it  also  signifies  His  love  towards  the  human 
race  and  the  reciprocal  love  from  man. 

Might  we  not  put  it  thus  :  bread  is  produced  in 
external  goodness  stimulated  by  truth,  and  the  finished 
product  represents  a  series  of  laborious  processes  of  the 
human  soul,  of  which  that  soul  may  be  quite  unconscious. 

Then  this  is  what  we  are  instructed  to  pray  for :  that 
we  may  love  God  to  the  extent  needful  to  our  state  of 
spiritual  progress  at  the  time  of  asking,  for  unless  we 
love  God,  and  are  thus  able  to  receive  His  love,  our  soul 
will  be  starved. 

Further,  and  more  obviously,  the  prayer  for  our  daily 
bread,  *  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,'  implies  our 
entire  trust  and  dependence  on  the  Lord  for  all  our 
needs,  whether  natural  or  spiritual.  He  is  the  source  of 
all  good,  and  this  we  should  daily  acknowledge.  But  this 
does  not  mean  that  we  should  do  nothing  ourselves — 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


138 

only  trust  in  the  Lord*  No,  we  must  prove  our  trust  in 
God  by  our  work*  We  must  produce  our  daily  bread 
by  our  own  labour ;  but  we  can  do  nothing  without  God's 
help,  therefore  we  must  pray  to  God  to  give  us  that  help* 

The  following  passage,  from  a  work  entitled  *  Com¬ 
mentary  on  the  Gospel  according  to  St*  Matthew,'  by 
the  Rev*  W*  Bruce  (London,  1867),  puts  it,  we  think, 
very  clearly  : 

But  in  using  this  petition,  what  do  we  not  pray  for,  when 
the  Lord  Himself  is  the  bread  of  life,  the  true  bread  that  came 
down  from  Heaven  to  give  life  unto  the  world  i  He  that  eateth 
of  this  bread  shall  live  for  ever.  Daily  should  we  look  up  to 
Him  as  the  source  and  the  substance  of  all  good  for  our  needful 
supply*  And  knowing  that  He  still  comes  down  from  Heaven 
as  the  bread  of  life  that  we  may  eat  and  not  die,  causing  His 
love  and  truth  to  descend  upon  our  hearts,  as  the  manna 
descended  upon  the  wilderness  around  the  camp  of  Israel,  let 
us  gather  it,  and  gather  it  daily,  that  we  may  go  on  by  the 
strength  of  this  angels'  food  in  our  journey  to  the  promised 
land* 

After  praying  for  our  daily  bread  we  are  to  ask  for 
the  forgiveness  of  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  those  who 
trespass  against  us*  Now  God  is  infinite  love,  there¬ 
fore  we  cannot  assume  that  He  cherishes  any  anger  against 
us  for  our  offences,  for  we  are  told  that  He  pities  us  as 
a  father  pitieth  his  children.  If  He  is  not  angry  with 
us,  why  ask  Him  to  cease  to  be  angry  i  Then  there  is 
the  other  aspect  of  the  Deity,  according  to  which  He  is 
infinite  justice*  We  have  a  conception  of  justice  as 
something  that  involves  punishment*  Infinite  justice 
must  be  inflexible  ;  it  cannot  be  deflected  from  its  stern 
purpose  by  our  petition*  There  is  nothing  in  this 
prayer  about  the  merit  or  the  sacrifice  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  of  His  having  atoned  for  our  sins,  and  of  having 
washed  them  away  with  His  blood*  This  is  surely  a 
difficult  prayer  to  understand  ;  besides,  why  are  our  sins 
to  be  forgiven  in  proportion  as  we  forgive  those  who 
have  offended  us  i  What  has  that  to  do  with  it  i  Yet 
our  Lord  tells  us  :  4  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged* 
For  with  what  judgment  ye  judge,  ye  shall  be  judged  : 


PRAYER 


139 

and  with  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to 
you  again/ 

A  little  reflection  will  show  us  that  the  whole  essence 
of  this  prayer  is  subjective,  God  is  not  a  vindictive  God. 
He  has  forgiven  us  our  sins  before  we  have  even  thought 
of  asking  His  forgiveness.  He  stands  at  the  door  and 
knocks,  but  the  unrepentant  sinner  will  not  open  it  for 
Him,  but  has  turned  himself  away  from  God,  immersed 
himself  in  his  own  ego,  in  his  uncharitableness  and 
hardness  of  heart.  He  must  humble  himself  before  God  ; 
he  must  strike  his  breast  as  the  publican  did,  acknowledge 
his  sinfulness  and  call  on  God  to  have  mercy  upon  him, 
a  sinner  ;  he  must  have  charity  in  his  heart ;  he  must  have 
no  vindictive  feelings  towards  his  real  or  imaginary 
enemies ;  he  must  be  humble  and  sincerely  penitent. 
But  he  cannot  attain  to  such  a  state  unless  he  has  pre¬ 
viously  prayed  to  his  Father  Who  is  in  Heaven,  that  he 
may  hallow  within  himself  His  Name,  the  Divine  qualities, 
that  God's  Kingdom  may  descend  in  his  soul  that  he 
may  do  God's  will,  and  that  he  may  be  capable  of  receiving 
his  daily  bread  from  that  universal  source  of  life  who  is 
indeed  his  Father.  We  must  of  ourselves  determine  to 
put  away  our  sins  from  us,  and  then  God  will  give  us 
strength  to  do  so. 

And  then  when  we  have  reached  a  state  in  which 
we  can  sincerely  offer  up  this  prayer,  we  are  confronted 
with  temptation.  4  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but 
deliver  us  from  evil.' 

Does  God  ever  4  lead  us  into  temptation  '  i  Every 
human  being  on  the  journey  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave 
has  to  work  out  his  or  her  salvation,  and  in  that  process 
temptation  plays  a  part.  Even  the  Saviour  Himself  was 
*  in  all  points  tempted  as  we  are.' 

It  has  been  suggested  that  a  better  rendering  of  the 
original  Greek  would  be  :  4  Let  us  not  be  led  into  the 
tempter's  snare.'  Temptation  does  not  arise  either  from 
God  or  man,  but  from  the  tempter,  and  we  are  told  to 
pray  that  we  may  not  be  led  into  it,  that  we  be  not  seduced 
into  falling  in  with  the  tempter's  purpose,  which  means 
that  we  may  be  preserved  from  such  conditions  or  states 


140  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

in  which  we  would  be  ready  to  agree  with  the  tempter 
and  succumb  to  his  influence*  We  must  assuredly  have 
made  considerable  advance  in  our  spiritual  journey  before 
we  can  sincerely  express  such  a  wish*  Indeed,  no  evil 
man  is  ever  tempted*  Temptation  arises  in  the  first 
place  only  when  man's  natural  impulses  act  or  react 
against  his  better  desires  descending  from  his  spiritual 
interior*  But  no  real  temptation  is  produced  by  the 
internecine  combat  of  natural  impulses  ;  it  is  always  the 
result  of  a  combat  between  the  self  on  the  one  hand 
and  spiritual  aspirations  on  the  other* 

Temptation  also  arises  when  the  Lord  intensifies  our 
conscience  and  makes  us  feel  that  there  is  a  higher  life 
towards  which  we  should  strive,  but  for  which  we  have 
as  yet  little  inclination*  Harmony  in  the  soul  can  only 
be  attained  by  the  subjugation  of  our  evil  desires  and 
tendencies,  and  this  cannot  be  accomplished  by  other 
means  than  by  temptation*  But  God  does  not  implant 
these  evil  desires  in  our  hearts*  They  have  been  acquired 
hereditarily  through  countless  generations  ;  they  put  us 
in  relation  with  evil  spirits  whose  object  it  is  to  capture 
and  corrupt  our  souls.  God,  however,  protects  those 
who  turn  to  Him,  and  expels  these  evil  spirits,  subjugates 
them  for  us  ;  and  then  we  have  attained  our  object  in 
this  life,  we  have  not  succumbed  to  temptation,  but  we 
have  been  delivered  from  evil*  Through  no  merit  of  our 
own  has  this  work  of  redemption  been  accomplished* 
The  Kingdom,  the  power  and  the  glory  are  our  Lord's, 
the  Saviour,  Who  in  His  Divine  Humanity  took  upon 
Himself  all  our  infirmities  and  subdued  them,  thus 
making  a  way  for  us  to  follow*  The  Kingdom  of  God 
is  now  within  us,  and  the  power  as  well  as  the  glory  of 
it  are  the  Lord's*  The  Kingdom  is  the  truth,  the  truth 
in  action,  and  the  glory  is  the  good  resulting  from  that 
action* 

We  have  carefully  analysed  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
found  in  it  nothing  but  spiritual  truths,  as  was  indeed  to 
be  expected*  Our  worldly  needs,  our  selfish  desires,  all 
the  things  that  we  actually  pray  for  to-day,  not  only  in 
our  homes,  but  in  our  churches,  these  are  ignored*  There 


PRAYER 


141 

is  no  reference  to  material  things  at  all,  unless  the  prayer 
for  our  daily  bread  be  regarded  in  that  light* 

But  the  Lord  said  to  His  disciples,  *  All  things  whatso¬ 
ever  ye  shall  ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive/ 
By  these  words,  however,  Swedenborg  says,  the  power  of 
those  who  are  in  the  Lord  is  described*  They  desire 
nothing,  and  so  ask  nothing,  but  from  the  Lord,  and 
whatsoever  they  desire  and  ask  from  the  Lord  the  same 
is  done*  The  angels  in  Heaven  have  such  power  that  if 
they  only  desire  a  thing,  they  obtain  it ;  but  they  do  not 
desire  anything  but  what  is  of  use,  and  they  desire  it  as 
if  of  themselves  but  yet  from  the  Lord* 

Mr*  Bruce  explains  this  promise  in  the  following  way : 

Here  we  see  the  order  according  to  which  regeneration 
proceeds — the  bad  must  be  cast  out  before  the  good  can  be 
appropriated*  *  ♦  ♦  We  must  receive  the  Spirit  of  God  before 
we  can  remove  the  spirit  of  evil ;  but  the  Spirit  of  God  does  not 
obtain  undisputed  possession  of  the  heart  till  the  spirit  of  evil 
has  been  dislodged  from  it*  Regeneration  consists  therefore 
of  two  parts — the  removal  of  evil  by  good  and  the  substitution 
of  good  for  evil*  Christ  casts  out  demons,  and  then  restores 
us  to  a  sound  mind  by  Himself  dwelling  where  demons  had 
been*  So  when  faith  has  cast  out  the  mountain  of  evil  and 
withered  the  fig  tree  of  falsity  up  from  its  roots,  then  all  things 
are  given  in  confiding  prayer*  True  prayer  springs  from  good 
in  the  heart,  and  is  directed  by  truth  in  the  understanding* 
Such  prayer  asks  only  what  is  consistent  with  the  will  of  God, 
and  the  welfare  of  the  suppliant*  It  is  wild  enthusiasm  to 
suppose  that,  ask  what  we  will,  if  we  only  believe,  we  shall 
receive  it*  Every  true  prayer  comes  from  God,  and  therefore 
ascends  to  Him  again*  It  is  God  that  worketh  in  us  both  to 
will  and  to  do  His  good  pleasure,  it  is  He  also  that  worketh 
in  us  to  desire  and  ask  according  to  His  good  pleasure*  Prayer 
is  the  incense  that  ascends  to  God  from  the  altar  of  a  renewed 
heart,  and  the  fire  that  burns  upon  it  is  kindled  from  heaven, 
being  the  Lord's  love  dwelling  in  the  affections*  It  is  enough 
for  the  largest  legitimate  desire,  that  whatsoever  we  ask  in  faith 
shall  be  granted  us*  Let  us  only  have  the  faith  of  God,  and  we 
shall  receive  whatever  that  faith  embraces  in  its  petitions* 

From  all  that  has  preceded  it  follows  that  we  must 
humble  ourselves  before  God,  and  that  when  we  wish 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


142 

to  pray  to  Him  we  must  approach  Him  as  little  children, 
and  in  that  state  of  humility  and  innocence  we  can  un¬ 
burden  our  hearts  to  Him*  Our  Lord  has  indeed  said  : 

Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them 
not :  for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  God*  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  a  little 
child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein.  And  he  took  them  up  in  his 
arms,  put  his  hands  upon  them  and  blessed  them* 

There  are  many  cases  on  record  where  such  simple 
childlike  faith  and  trust  have  been  justified  in  prayer,  but 
in  no  single  instance  was  the  prayer  for  a  selfish  object* 


CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Sacraments 


If  the  question  of  prayer  has  presented  many  difficulties 
to  honest  doubters,  how  much  more  so  the  problem  of 
the  sacraments  i  To  relegate  these  to  the  realm  of 
ancient  superstition  is  not  quite  logical,  seeing  that  as 
far  as  we  know  there  were  no  pre-Christian  sacraments. 
There  were  rites  which  almost  assumed  the  sanctity  of 
sacraments,  like  the  Jewish  rite  of  circumcision,  for 
instance,  which,  the  Bible  teaches  us,  was  Divinely 
instituted  ;  but,  then,  these  rites  had  a  hygienic  as  well 
as  a  religious  side  to  them.  Yet  baptism  and  the  Holy 
Supper,  whether  it  be  called  High  Mass  or  Communion, 
do  not  come  under  the  purview  of  sanitation — according 
to  some  medical  opinions,  they  are  even  a  source  of 
disease,  or  at  least  a  means  of  spreading  infection  and 
contagion.  Sacraments  are  peculiar  to  the  Christian 
Church,  and  the  Holy  Supper  was  regarded*  by  pagans 
as  a  convivial  entertainment  at  which  the  early  Christians 
were  reported  to  get  drunk  and  to  indulge  in  obscene 
practices.  Gibbon,  who  was  prejudiced  against  Chris¬ 
tianity,  represents  the  early  Christians  in  a  strong  and 
extremely  unpleasant  light,  basing  his  statements  on 
unimpeachable  pagan  records. 

To-day  the  honest  doubter  looks  upon  this  whole 
business  of  administering  the  Sacraments  as  a  farce,  a 
sort  of  mumbo-jumbo,  but  an  ingenious  device,  among 
which  the  confessional  is  included,  for  maintaining  the 
authority  and  power  of  the  clergy.  How  is  it  possible  for 
a  plain  man  of  common  sense  to  believe  that  when  he  was 


144 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


baptised  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  on  him  and  sealed 
him  for  Heaven,  or  that  when  we  are  swallowing  a  piece 
of  bread  and  sipping  a  drop  of  wine,  over  which  the 
officiating  clergyman  has  mumbled  a  few  words  of  prayer, 
we  are  assimilating  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  i 

That  there  must  be  something  in  baptism  and  the 
Holy  Supper  seems  obvious,  for  John  baptised  our  Lord, 
and  our  Lord  instituted  the  Holy  Supper ;  only  it  should 
be  observed  that  when  He  asked  His  disciples  to  eat 
bread  and  drink  wine  with  Him  at  the  Feast  of  the  Pass- 
over,  the  incident  is  recorded  almost  identically  in  the 
Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke,  He  used  these 
words  (we  quote  from  Matthew  xxvi ♦  26)  : 

And  as  they  were  eating  Jesus  took  bread,  and  blessed  it, 
and  brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat ; 
this  is  my  body.  And  he  took  the  cup,  and  gave  thanks,  and 
gave  it  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;  for  this  is  my  blood 
of  the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission 
of  sins. 

Thus  we  see  that  our  Lord,  who  had  not  yet  been 
crucified,  was  present  in  His  body  when  He  offered  His 
disciples  bread  and  wine  and  pronounced  the  words 
quoted  above.  The  disciples  could  not  have  imagined 
that  they  were  eating  their  Master's  real  body  and  drinking 
His  real  blood  while  He  was  amongst  them  whole  and 
sound.  But  they  knew  that  He  always  spoke  in  parables. 
What  the  early  Christians  did  in  the  catacombs  of  Rome, 
and  whether  the  charges  brought  against  them  and  re¬ 
peated  by  Gibbon  were  true,  can  only  affect  the  reputation 
of  these  same  early  Christians.  We  are  dealing  with  the 
Holy  Supper  as  instituted  by  our  Lord,  which  as  we  saw 
was  but  a  continuation  of,  or  substitution  for,  the  Passover. 
Here  there  was  no  unseemly  levity.  Our  Lord  knew 
that  on  leaving  the  supper-chamber  and  proceeding  to 
the  Mount  of  Olives  to  pray  He  would  be  betrayed  by 
Judas  Iscariot,  and  would  undergo  His  last  and  final 
temptation  and  achieve  His  last  earthly  triumph. 

At  this  stage  it  may  perhaps  be  as  well  to  see  what 
light  Swedenborg  throws  on  the  Passover.  He  says  the 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


145 

Passover  was  instituted  on  account  of  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt*  Now  Egypt  represents  the  scientific  principles  of 
the  mind  which  hold  the  spiritual  in  bondage,  hence  the 
deliverance  from  Egypt  denotes  the  Lord's  presence  and 
deliverance  of  the  human  soul  from  damnation,  or  hell* 
The  Paschal  Supper  represented  angelic  consociations  as 
to  goods  and  truths  ;  and  the  statutes  concerning  strangers, 
settlers,  hirelings,  and  sojourners,  who  are  here  treated 
of  in  the  spiritual  sense,  define  who  might  be  consociated 
and  who  might  not*  Hence  it  is  that  eating  signifies  to  be 
with  them,  or  to  be  consociated,  and  not  eating,  the  reverse* 

Thus  we  begin  to  see  that  this  sacrament  of  the  Holy 
Supper  is  not  quite  such  a  magical  observance  as  had  been 
supposed,  but  that  it  conveys  a  profound  spiritual  lesson* 
It  does  more* 

In  *  The  True  Christian  Religion  '  Swedenborg  has 
very  fully  explained  the  meaning  and  the  uses  of  the  Holy 
Supper*  He  shows  by  many  passages  in  different  parts 
of  the  Word  that  blood  signifies  the  Divine  Truth  of  the 
Lord,  which  is  also  the  Divine  Truth  of  the  Word.  The 
angels  in  Heaven,  he  tells  us,  cannot  think  of  any  blood, 
or  of  the  Lord's  passion,  but  of  Divine  Truth*  Flesh 
signifies  the  good  of  charity,  and  so  does  bread,  which  is 
the  goodness  produced  by  charity  from  essential  good. 
In  Ezekiel  the  following  passage  occurs :  *  Assemble 
yourselves  to  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the  mountains  of 
Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh  and  drink  blood  ;  and  ye 
shall  drink  the  blood  of  the  princes  of  the  earth  till  ye 
be  drunken  ;  and  I  will  set  my  glory  among  the  heathen*' 
The  prophet  here  speaks  of  the  Church  which  the  Lord 
was  about  to  institute  among  the  Gentiles,  and  the  blood 
in  this  passage  consequently  means  Divine  Truth  to  be 
revealed  to  the  Gentiles* 

Swedenborg  also  quotes  numerous  passages  from  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  to  show  that  wine,  which  is 
spoken  of  in  Genesis  xlix*  n  as  the  blood  of  grapes,  also 
signifies  Divine  Truth.  He  then  proceeds  : 

From  what  has  been  said  it  may  now  plainly  appear  what 
is  meant  by  the  Lord's  flesh  and  blood,  and  by  bread  and  wine 
in  their  triple  sense,  natural,  spiritual  and  celestial.  Everyone 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


146 

who  has  been  born  in  a  Christian  country,  and  educated  under 
a  sense  of  religion,  may  know,  or  if  he  does  not  know,  may  learn, 
that  there  are  both  natural  nourishment  and  spiritual,  and  that 
natural  nourishment  is  for  the  body,  and  spiritual  for  the  soul ; 
for  Jehovah  the  Lord  says  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  viii.  3, 
*  Man  doth  not  live  by  bread  alone  ;  but  by  every  word  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  doth  man  live/  Now, 
as  the  body  dies,  and  as  it  is  the  soul  which  lives  after  death, 
it  follows,  that  spiritual  nourishment  is  for  eternal  salvation* 
Who  cannot  hence  discern,  that  these  two  kinds  of  nourishment 
ought  not  to  be  confounded  together  i  For  where  this  is  the 
case  a  man  cannot  form  any  ideas  of  the  Lord's  flesh  and  blood, 
and  of  the  bread  and  wine,  than  such  as  are  natural  and  sensual, 
which  are  material,  corporeal  and  carnal ;  and  these  must 
suffocate  all  spiritual  ideas  on  this  most  holy  sacrament*  If, 
however,  there  be  anyone  so  simple  that  he  cannot  think  of 
anything  with  his  understanding  but  what  he  sees  with  his  eyes, 
I  would  advise  him  when  he  comes  to  the  Holy  Supper  and 
receives  the  bread  and  wine  and  hears  them  called  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  to  think  within  himself,  that  it  is  the  most  holy 
act  of  worship,  and  then  to  reflect  upon  the  sufferings  of  Christ, 
and  His  love  for  man's  salvation  ;  for  He  says  :  4  Do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me  '  (Luke  xxii.  19),  and  again,  *  The  Son  of 
Man  came  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many '  (Matthew  xx*  28 ; 
Mark  x.  45)  ;  4  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep '  (John  x* 

15.  W)‘ 

Thus  the  Lord  Himself  is  in  the  Holy  Supper,  flesh 
and  bread  are  the  Divine  good  resultant  from  love,  and 
the  blood  and  wine  are  the  Divine  truth,  the  product 
of  wisdom  ;  so  there  is,  as  it  were,  a  Trinity  involved  in 
the  Holy  Supper,  viz *  the  Lord,  His  Divine  Goodness, 
and  His  Divine  Truth*  The  Holy  Supper  will  thus  be 
seen  to  include  and  contain  the  universal  of  Heaven  and 
the  Church,  and  consequently  all  their  individual  deri¬ 
vatives*  The  three  essentials  of  the  Church  are  God, 
charity,  and  faith,  and  all  things  in  the  Church  have 
reference  to  these*  In  the  Holy  Supper  these  three  are 
present,  for  good  resultant  from  love  is  charity,  and  the 
truth,  which  is  the  product  of  wisdom,  is  faith*  Every 
human  being  possesses  these  three  essentials  also — the 
soul,  the  will,  and  the  understanding — and  these  act  as 
receptacles ;  the  soul  receives  the  Lord,  and  as  the  will 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


I47 

accepts  charity  and  the  understanding  embraces  faith, 
these  are  carried  out  into  life,  become  functional  and 
organic, 

Swedenborg  teaches  that  the  Lord  is  entirely  present 
in  the  Holy  Supper,  *  both  as  to  His  glorified  humanity 
and  the  Divinity  from  which  His  humanity  proceeded/ 
For  His  Divinity  can  no  more  be  separated  from  His 
Humanity  than  the  soul  can  be  separated  from  the  body. 
He  goes  on  to  say  : 

Now  since  the  Lord's  flesh  signifies  the  Divine  good  of  His 
love,  and  His  blood  the  Divine  truth  of  His  wisdom,  it  is  evident 
that  the  Lord,  both  as  to  His  Divinity  and  His  glorified 
Humanity,  is  entirely  omnipresent  in  the  Holy  Supper,  and 
that  consequently  it  is  a  spiritual  eating  and  drinking ,  (The 
italics  are  our  own.) 

It  follows  from  this  that  the  Lord's  redemption  is 
present  in  the  Holy  Supper,  for  where  the  Lord  is 
entirely  present  His  redemption  must  be  present  also. 
The  Lord,  as  to  His  Humanity,  is  the  Redeemer.  For 
which  reason  all  those  who  worthily  approach  the  Lord's 
Supper  become  His  redeemed,  seeing  that  redemption 
means  deliverance  from  hell,  conjunction  with  the  Lord 
and  salvation  ;  but  these  fruits  of  the  Holy  Supper  are 
produced  in  man  only  to  the  degree  of  his  reception,  not 
in  the  degree  the  Lord  wills,  for  man  must  be  a  free  agent. 
But  the  effects  and  fruits  of  the  Lord's  redemption  are 
renewed  to  those  who  worthily  approach  the  Holy  Supper. 
Every  person  of  sound  mind  possesses  the  faculty  of 
receiving  wisdom  from  the  Lord  as  well  as  love,  that  is, 
of  increasing  the  truths  from  which  wisdom  is  formed, 
and  of  being  fruitful  in  the  goodness  from  which  love  is 
formed,  to  eternity. 

The  Lord  is  present  with  both  the  worthy  and  the 
unworthy,  for  He  is  omnipresent  in  Heaven,  in  hell,  and 
in  the  world.  With  the  good  He  is  present  both  univer¬ 
sally  and  particularly,  for  He  is  in  them,  and  they  in  Him. 
Heaven  constitutes  the  Lord's  body ;  therefore  to  be  in 
His  body  is  to  be  in  Heaven.  In  the  case  of  those,  how¬ 
ever,  who  approach  unworthily,  the  Lord  is  only  present 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


148 

universally,  and  not  particularly,  or  externally  and  not 
interiorly.  Nevertheless,  Heaven  is  not  closed  against 
those  who  thus  approach  Him  unworthily — and  to 
approach  Him  unworthily  is  to  refuse  obedience  to  the 
goodness  and  truth  which  the  person  in  question  is 
capable  of  understanding — not  by  the  Lord  at  least,  it  is 
they  themselves  who  turn  away  from  Heaven,  and,  as  it 
were,  close  the  door  in  their  own  souls  against  it. 

But  of  those  who  approach  Him  worthily  the  Lord 
says  :  *  He  that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood, 
dwelleth  in  me,  and  I  in  him/  On  this  Swedenborg 
comments  : 

How  plain  it  is  to  see  that  bread  and  wine  cannot  effect  this 
conjunction  but  that  it  is  effected  by  the  good  of  love  which  is 
signified  by  bread,  and  by  the  truth  of  faith  which  is  signified 
by  wine,  both  of  which,  as  they  are  the  Lord's  own,  proceed 
and  are  communicated  from  Him  alone  !  All  conjunction, 
moreover,  is  effected  by  love,  and  love  without  confidence  is 
not  love.  But  those  who  believe  that  the  bread  is  flesh  and  the 
wine  blood,  and  cannot  raise  their  thoughts  to  anything 
spiritual,  must  remain  in  that  belief ;  but  then  it  should  be 
accompanied  with  the  conviction  that  there  is  something  in 
the  rite  most  holy  and  effective  of  conjunction  with  the  Lord, 
which  is  communicated  and  appropriate  to  man  as  his  own, 
though  it  always  continues  to  be  the  Lord's. 

The  Holy  Supper  to  worthy  receivers  is  a  signature 
and  seal  that  they  are  the  sons  of  God,  *  It  is,'  says 
Swedenborg,  *  with  the  Holy  Supper  as  with  a  covenant, 
which,  after  settling  the  articles  of  agreement,  is  drawn 
up  and  then  signed  and  sealed.' 

In  further  explanation  of  the  import  of  this  sacrament 
we  will  quote  a  few  sentences  from  the  work  by  the  Rev, 
W.  Bruce  referred  to  in  the  previous  chapter  1  : 

The  Holy  Supper,  the  most  sacred  solemnity  of  worship, 
was  instituted  as  a  perpetual  remembrance  of  the  Lord's  mercy 
in  our  redemption,  and  as  a  representative  and  a  means  of  His 
giving  Himself  to  His  people  for  their  regeneration  and  salva- 

1  ‘  Commentary  on  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Matthew,’  by  the 
Rev.  W.  Bruce.  London  :  Frederick  Pitman,  Paternoster  Row.  1867, 
pp.  606-7. 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


149 


tion.  It  was  instituted  instead  of  the  Passover*  By  the  Holy 
Supper  we  are  to  understand  the  same  thing  as  by  the  paschal 
supper,  bread  and  wine  being  received  in  the  one  instead  of  the 
lamb  and  herbs  of  the  other*  In  instituting  the  Supper,  the 
Lord  called  the  bread  His  body  and  the  wine  His  blood*  But 
what  are  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Saviour  i  They  cannot  be 
material ;  and  if  they  were  they  could  not  be  received  by  the 
soul,  nor  could  they,  if  their  reception  were  possible,  support 
its  spiritual  life*  Nor  are  the  Lord's  body  and  blood  mere 
figures  of  speech*  His  Humanity  is  no  longer  material,  having 
been  glorified  and  made  Divine*  But  it  has  in  it  Divine 
principles  corresponding  to  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  material 
body  which  He  had  upon  earth*  These  Divine  principles  are 
goodness  itself  and  truth  itself*  These  constitute  the  very 
humanity  of  the  Lord,  the  body  and  blood  which  the  Christian 
can  eat  and  drink  and  without  eating  and  drinking  which  he  has 
no  life  in  him.  Of  these  Divine  principles  in  the  Lord's 
humanity,  the  bread  and  wine  used  in  the  Holy  Supper  are  the 
symbols.  As  bread  and  wine  nourish  the  body,  Divine  good¬ 
ness  and  truth  nourish  the  soul.  Bread  signifies  the  same  as 
flesh,  or  the  body,  and  wine  the  same  as  blood.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  the  Lord  used  these,  and  appointed  their  use  as  the 
elements  of  the  Holy  Supper.  But  what  connection  is  there 
between  the  natural  reception  of  bread  and  wine  in  the  outward 
ordinance,  and  the  spiritual  reception  of  goodness  and  truth 
from  the  Lord  in  the  inward  operation  of  His  spirit  i  There 
is  a  connection  by  correspondence*  By  correspondence  earth 
is  connected  with  Heaven,  and  natural  things  with  spiritual, 
and  men  with  angels,  and  the  body  with  the  soul,  and  all  with 
the  Lord*  When  we  devoutly  and  intelligently  partake  of 
the  Holy  Supper,  assuming  that  our  devotion  rests  upon  holi¬ 
ness,  without  which  there  can  be  no  true  worship,  we  come  into 
more  immediate  connection  with  the  Lord  and  Heaven,  and  more 
perfectly  into  the  capacity  of  receiving  the  Divine  and  heavenly 
principles  to  which  the  bread  and  wine  correspond*  The 
external  man  comes  also  into  more  perfect  correspondence  with 
the  internal ;  and  in  these  circumstances,  what  affects  the 
lower  disposes  it  to  receive  corresponding  impressions  from  the 
higher*  Thus  is  the  devout  recipient  of  the  Holy  Supper 
brought  into  a  state  in  which  the  true  bread  which  cometh  down 
from  Heaven  can  enter  into  and  strengthen  his  heart*  From 
these  general  views  let  us  turn  to  the  Divine  narrative  before  us* 
When  the  Lord  took  the  bread  and  blessed  it  He  performed  an 
act  that  signified  in  respect  to  Himself  the  elevation  of  His 


150  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

Humanity  into  union  with  His  Divinity,  by  which  it  was 
sanctified  ;  and  when  He  brake  the  bread  and  gave  it  to  the 
disciples,  He  performed  acts  which  meant  that  His  sanctified 
Humanity  is  accommodated  to  the  varying  wants  and  capacities 
of  His  children,  and  imparted  to  them  for  their  salvation* 
The  Lord,  therefore,  said  of  the  bread,  4  This  is  my  body/ 
The  form  of  this  Divine  sacrament  thus  represented  both  the 
ascent  and  descent  of  the  Son  of  man — the  glorification  of  the 
Humanity,  and  its  descent  as  the  Holy  Spirit  into  the  minds 
of  men.  The  Lord's  body  and  the  bread  signify  the  Humanity 
as  to  Divine  good,  which  is  the  principle  received  by  the  human 
will ;  and  His  asking  the  disciples  to  take  and  eat  teaches  what 
we  have  to  do  to  realise  the  proffered  good.  The  Lord  gave 
the  bread  to  the  disciples  but  they  had  to  take  it.  We  have  to 
co-operate  with  the  Lord  by  freely  and  actively  receiving  what 
He  freely  gives.  We  have  also  to  eat  to  appropriate  or  make 
His  good  our  own.  As  earthly  food  must  be  eaten,  that  it  may 
enter  into  the  body  for  its  support,  so  must  heavenly  food  be 
appropriated  or  made  our  own  by  use,  that  it  may  enter  into 
the  soul,  and  nourish  it  unto  eternal  life.  When  the  Lord  had 
given  the  bread.  He  took  the  cup  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it 
to  them  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;  for  this  is  my  blood  of  the 
new  testament ,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins . 
The  same  acts  here  have  the  same  signification.  We  need  only 
notice  what  in  this  is  peculiar.  Mention  is  here  made  of  the 
Lord  taking  the  cup,  not  the  wine.  It  is  true  that  the  wine  is 
understood.  But  the  cup,  as  a  vessel  containing  the  wine, 
signified  the  external  in  which  is  the  internal.  In  reference  to 
the  Lord,  it  implies  that  in  the  Humanity  the  very  recipient 
vessels  of  the  truth  were  made  Divine  ;  but  in  relation  to  the 
Word,  it  implies  that  the  Lord  never  instructs  His  Church  and 
people  by  the  internal  sense  immediately  or  alone,  but  gives 
them  the  spirit  in  and  by  the  letter.  As  the  Lord  called  the 
bread  His  flesh,  so  He  calls  the  wine  His  blood.  And  although 
the  wine  is  considered  the  symbol  of  His  blood,  yet  both  terms 
are  symbolical,  and  each  has  a  distinct  though  similar  meaning. 
The  wine  is  the  symbol  of  spiritual  truth,  and  the  blood  of 
celestial  truth  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  bread  and  body. 
And  this  duality  is  introduced,  that  the  Holy  Supper  might 
represent  the  Lord's  love  to  the  whole  human  race,  both 
celestial  and  spiritual,  and  the  reciprocal  love  of  man  towards 
Him.  The  Lord,  therefore,  calls  His  blood  4  the  blood  of  the 
new  testament '  ♦  ♦  ♦  The  shedding  of  His  blood  upon  the 
cross,  as  being  the  last  of  His  sufferings,  is  put  for  the  whole, 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


151 

and  is  an  expressive  and  compendious  phrase  for  all  that  He 
endured  for  His  creatures'  sakes.  The  Lord's  sufferings  were, 
in  the  first  place,  the  means  of  overcoming  the  powers  of  dark¬ 
ness  and  perfecting  His  humanity  ;  and  in  the  second  place, 
are  the  means  of  perfecting  His  creatures,  for  He  was  tempted 
that  He  might  succour  them  that  are  tempted*  It  is  said  that 
His  blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin,  and  that  the  saints  wash  their 
robes  and  make  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb*  This 
is  figurative  language*  So  far  as  it  may  be  understood  of  the 
Lord's  material  blood,  it  cleanses  by  enabling  us,  through  the 
Lord's  sufferings  and  death  *  *  *  to  pass  triumphantly  through 
the  sufferings  of  temptation  and  the  death  of  sin,  by  which  sin 
is  removed  or  remitted*  *  .  *  But  the  Lord's  blood  has  a 
spiritual  meaning*  The  blood  of  His  material  body  was  the 
symbol  of  the  Divine  truth  of  His  glorified  body*  This  is  the 
blood  of  the  Son  of  man  which  the  disciples  must  drink  that 
they  may  live,  and  which  cleanses  from  all  sin.  .  *  .  The  shed¬ 
ding  of  His  blood  on  the  cross  was  the  necessary  precursor  and 
means  of  shedding  forth  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
— as  necessary  as  it  was  for  Him  to  suffer  those  things,  and  to 
enter  into  His  glory.  *  *  *  The  many  for  whom  the  Lord's 
blood  is  shed  are  those  on  whose  hearts  it  is  shed  abroad  ;  and 
this  number  is  determined,  not  by  a  Divine  decree,  but  by 
human  choice.  *  *  .  God  wills  that  all  men  should  be  saved. 
*  ♦  ♦  The  Lord's  will  towards  the  whole  human  race  may  be 
expressed  in  His  words  to  the  disciples,  *  Drink  ye  all  of  it.' 

This  fairly  exhaustive  examination  of  the  meaning 
and  uses  of  the  Holy  Supper  will  demonstrate  that  it  is 
a  sacrament  full  of  spiritual  teaching,  a  fundamental, 
symbolic,  and  representative  rite  of  the  Church,  and  as 
far  removed  from  magic  and  superstition  as  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  from  the  praying-machine  of  Thibet* 

And  now  let  us  turn  to  the  sacrament  with  which 
we  should  properly  have  commenced  this  chapter,  for  it 
came  first  in  our  lives* 

To  the  man  who  is  unacquainted  with  the  internal 
meaning  of  the  Bible,  baptism  is  simply  the  pouring  of 
water  on  the  head  of  an  infant,  and  what  can  that  have 
to  do  with  salvation  i  Yet  that  baptism  is  of  Divine 
institution  is  evident  from  John's  baptising  in  Jordan, 
when  we  are  told  there  *  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem 
and  all  Judea,  and  all  the  region  round  about  Jordan, 


152 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


and  were  baptised  of  him  in  Jordan,  confessing  their  sins/ 
Moreover,  our  Lord,  who  was  Himself  baptised  by  John, 
commanded  His  disciples  to  baptise  all  nations* 

The  Israelites  were  enjoined  to  wash*  Aaron  was 
obliged  to  wash  before  he  put  on  his  vestments  and 
before  he  approached  the  altar,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
Levites  ;  moreover,  sinners  removed  the  uncleanness  of 
their  sins,  and  were  sanctified  by  washing*  This  and 
several  similar  ordinances  were,  according  to  Swedenborg, 
commanded,  because  the  Jewish  Church  was  a  repre¬ 
sentative  Church,  prefiguring  the  Christian  Church*  Our 
Lord,  when  He  came  into  the  world,  abrogated  these 
external  ceremonials,  which  were  called  the  Law,  and 
instituted  an  internal  Church,  retaining  only  two  such 
ceremonial  observances,  namely,  baptism  instead  of 
washing,  and  the  Holy  Supper  instead  of  the  lamb  which 
was  sacrificed  daily,  and  particularly  at  the  Feast  of  the 
Passover* 

Thus,  when  the  disciples  ate  bread  with  unwashed 
hands,  and  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes  found  fault  with 
them,  the  Lord  delivered  that  remarkable  speech  {vide 
Mark  vii*)  in  which  He  told  the  latter  what  hypocrites 
they  were,  and  how  they  rejected  the  commandment  of 
God — as,  indeed,  so  many  do  to-day — that  they  might 
keep  their  own  tradition.  *  This  people/  He  said, 
*  honoureth  me  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far 
from  me/  But  Isaiah  cries :  *  Wash  you,  make  you 
clean  ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine 
eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil ' — which  makes  it  quite  clear  that 
the  washing  of  the  body  was  but  representative  of  the 
purification  of  the  spirit* 

What  man  of  sound  reason  [Swedenborg  asks]  cannot 
see  that  the  washing  of  the  face,  hands  and  feet,  and  all  the 
limbs,  indeed  of  the  whole  body  in  a  bath,  effects  nothing  more 
than  to  wash  away  the  dirt,  so  that  the  outward  form  may  appear 
clean  in  the  sight  of  men  {  And  who  cannot  understand  that 
no  amount  of  such  washing  can  possibly  enter  the  spirit  and 
make  that  clean  as  well  i  For  a  thief,  a  robber,  and  an  assassin 
can  wash  themselves  even  till  their  skin  shines,  but  that  would 
not  wash  away  their  criminal  dispositions. 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


i53 


He  points  out  that  it  is  in  accordance  with  nature  and 
order  for  the  internal  to  flow  into  the  external,  but  not 
vice  versa;  indeed,  that  would  be  impossible. 

Consequently,  unless  the  internal  man  is  purified  of 
evil  and  error,  washing  is  of  no  more  avail  than  the  cleansing 
of  the  outside  of  the  platter. 

The  primary  rite  which  distinguished  the  Jewish 
Church  from  other  Asiatic  Churches,  and  afterwards 
from  the  Christian,  was  circumcision ;  and  as  all  the 
external  ordinances  of  the  Jewish  Church  were  figures 
or  symbols  of  all  things  in  the  Christian  Church,  the 
primary  signs  of  the  two  Churches  were  similar,  for 
circumcision  signified  the  rejection  of  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh,  and,  inferentially,  purification  from  evil,  and  the 
same  is  also  signified  by  baptism.  But  baptism  is  a  little 
more  than  this.  We  cannot  do  better  than  again  to  quote 
Swedenborg : 

4  Baptism  [he  says]  is  an  introduction  into  the  Christian 
Church/  it  was  *  instituted  in  the  place  of  circumcision '  which 
was  a  sign  and  badge  of  the  Jewish  Church,  *  so  baptism  is  a 
sign  that  the  persons  baptised  are  of  the  Christian  Church  .  .  . 
and  a  sign  answers  no  other  purpose  than  as  a  mark  of  distinc¬ 
tion.  It  is  only  a  sign  of  introduction  into  the  Church,  as  is 
evident  from  the  baptising  of  infants  before  they  come  to  the 
use  of  reason,  and  while  they  are  as  incapable  of  receiving  any¬ 
thing  relative  to  faith  as  the  young  shoots  of  a  tree.  Not  only 
are  infants  baptised,  but  all  converted  to  the  Christian  religion 
whether  they  be  young  or  old,  and  this  before  they  have  been 
instructed,  if  they  but  confess  themselves  desirous  of  embracing 
Christianity — John  baptised  all  who  came  to  him  from  Judea 
and  Jerusalem  in  the  river  Jordan  .  .  .  because  the  entrance 
into  the  land  of  Canaan  was  through  that  river,  and  this  land 
signified  the  Church  ...  in  consequence — Jordan  signified 
introduction  into  the  Church.  .  .  .  Thus  it  is  upon  earth  ; 
but  in  Heaven  infants  are  introduced  by  baptism  into  the 
Christian  heaven,  and  angels  are  there  assigned  them  by  the 
Lord  to  take  care  of  them.  .  .  .  The  second  use  of  baptism, 
which  is  to  know  the  Lord  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour,  Jesus 
Christ,  inseparably  attends  the  first,  which  is  introduction  into 
the  Christian  Church  and  insertion  among  Christians  in  the 
Spiritual  World  ...  to  bear  the  name  of  a  Christian  ♦  .  . 


i54 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


and  yet  not  to  follow  and  acknowledge  Him,  which  consists 
in  living  according  to  His  commandments,  is  a  vain  and  empty 
thing*  *  *  *  In  the  Word  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
signifies  an  acknowledgment  of  Him  and  a  life  according  to 
His  commandments*  The  reason  why  His  name  signifies 
these  things  may  be  seen  in  the  explanation  of  the  second  com¬ 
mandment  in  the  Decalogue,  **  Thou  shalt  not  take  his  name  in 
vain*”  *  .  ,  The  very  essential  use  intended  by  baptism  is  *  *  ♦ 
its  final  use  * ;  that  the  man  may  be  regenerated,  *  because  a  true 
Christian  knows  and  acknowledges  the  Lord  the  Redeemer 
Jesus  Christ,  Who,  as  He  is  the  Redeemer,  is  also  the  Regener¬ 
ator  *  *  *  a  Christian  is  in  possession  of  the  Word,  where  the 
means  of  regeneration  stand  fully  described,  and  are  declared 
to  be  faith  in  the  Lord  and  charity  towards  our  neighbour/ 
This  is  the  same  as  what  was  said  of  the  Lord,  *  He  shall  baptise 
you  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  with  fire/  The  Holy  Spirit 
means  the  Divine  truth  of  faith,  and  fire,  the  Divine  good  of  love 
or  charity,  each  proceeding  from  the  Lord*  *  *  *  The  Lord 
Himself  was  baptised  by  John  that  He  might  not  only  institute 
baptism  as  a  rite  to  be  observed  in  the  future,  and  establish 
it  by  His  own  example,  but  also  because  He  glorified  His 
humanity  and  made  it  Divine,  as  He  regenerates  a  man  and 
makes  him  spiritual* 

Moreover,  as  water  is  representative  of  truth  the 
symbolism  of  the  rite  is  apparent*  The  three  uses  of 
baptism  cohere  together,  for  the  first  use  of  baptism  is 
that  a  person  may  have  the  name  of  Christian,  and,  as 
name  implies  quality,  the  second  use  is  the  imparting, 
as  a  consequence,  the  knowledge  that  the  Lord  is  the 
Redeemer,  Regenerator,  and  Saviour  of  the  soul,  which 
must  receive  heartfelt  recognition,  and  the  third  use  is 
regeneration,  and  when  this  is  effected  the  soul  is  redeemed 
and  saved*  Swedenborg  informs  us  that  in  the  minds 
of  the  angels  these  three  uses  or  ideas  cohere  as  one; 
consequently,  when  baptism  is  performed,  read  of  in  the 
Word,  or  referred  to,  the  angels  who  are  present  with  us 
at  the  time  think  only  of  regeneration*  In  the  Word 
it  is  said  that  the  Lord  *  baptiseth  with  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  with  fire/  by  which  is  meant  that  the  Lord  regenerates 
man  by  the  Divine  truth  of  faith,  and  the  Divine  good 
of  love  or  charity*  The  baptism  of  John  represented 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


i55 


the  cleansing  of  the  external  man,  but  the  baptism  of 
Christ  administered  among  Christians  represents  the 
cleansing  of  the  internal  man,  which  is  regeneration* 
That  is  why  John  baptised  with  water,  but  the  Lord  with 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  with  fire* 

There  is  a  very  instructive  comment  on  John  the 
Baptist  in  the  work  of  Mr*  Bruce,  to  which  frequent 
reference  has  already  been  made,  and  in  which  the 
teachings  and  interpretations  of  Swedenborg  are  focussed 
and  very  ably  expounded*  He  introduces  his  subject 
by  pointing  out  how  epoch-making  in  the  history  of 
Christianity  was  the  preaching  of  John,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  its  actual  commencement*  It  was  thirty 
years  since  the  infant  Saviour  had  been  visited  at 
Bethlehem  by  the  shepherds  and  the  wise  men  of  the 
East*  And  now  there  was  heard  a  voice  in  the  wilderness, 
calling  to  repentance,  as  the  means  of  preparing  the  way 
for  the  Lord*  Unless  this  had  been  done,  unless  a  way 
had  been  prepared,  the  Lord's  presence  would  have 
had  a  catastrophic  effect,  not  only  on  the  Jews,  but  on  the 
whole  human  race*  Baptism  acted  representatively,  for, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  Jewish  was  a  representative  Church 
and  was  connected  with  Heaven  by  its  symbolic  rites 
rather  than  by  the  spirituality  of  the  lives  of  its  worshippers* 
They  had  to  be  called  to  repentance  by  baptism  with 
water,  viz*  by  the  application  of  truth  and  sincerity  to 
their  lives,  before  the  Lord  could  come  amongst  them 
without  destroying  them*  The  Lord  was  the  Word 
made  flesh,  the  Eternal  Wisdom  carried  into  human 
conduct,  into  active  goodness  on  earth,  clothed  in  human 
nature*  The  wilderness  in  which  John's  voice  was 
heard  was  the  Jewish  Church,  which  was  void  of  goodness 
and  truth,  of  charity  and  faith*  The  two  latter  must 
be  united  ;  when  they  are  divorced  in  the  Church  all 
spiritual  life  ceases — there  can  be  no  more  propagation  of 
truth*  Mr*  Bruce  here  points  out  that  this  preaching 
of  the  Baptist  is  still  continued,  that  God  never  leaves 
Himself  without  a  witness,  and  that  the  mind  of  every 
unregenerate  man  is  a  wilderness,  and  to  every  man 
there  comes  the  call  to  repent,  to  avoid  evil  as  a  sin  against 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


156 

God ♦  The  world  may  restrain  but  it  cannot  convert* 
John  is  described  as  having  his  raiment  of  camel's  hair, 
and  a  leather  girdle  round  his  loins,  while  his  meat  was 
locusts  and  wild  honey*  When  John  the  Baptist  appeared 
in  the  wilderness  he  was,  like  the  prophets  of  old,  a  sign 
unto  the  children  of  Judah ;  his  abode,  his  raiment,  his 
meat,  all  spoke,  in  the  symbolic  language  with  which 
the  Jews  were  acquainted,  of  the  state  of  the  Church 
among  them.  The  literal  and  the  spiritual  senses  of 
the  Word,  like  the  natural  and  the  spiritual  worlds,  and 
the  body  and  soul,  are  united  by  correspondence ;  this 
is  the  girdle  which  John  wore  about  his  loins  to  keep  his 
raiment  together  on  his  body.  This  raiment  was  of 
camel's  hair,  for  the  camel  on  land,  like  the  whale  in  the 
sea,  is  the  symbol  of  that  general  kind  of  truth  expressed 
in  the  letter  of  the  Word.  A  camel  cannot  go  through 
the  eye  of  a  needle,  nor  can  the  mere  literalist  discern 
spiritual  truth,  for  the  letter  killeth,  it  is  the  spirit  that 
giveth  life.  Moreover,  John's  meat  was  locusts  and 
wild  honey.  The  locust  was  among  the  lowest  kind  of 
winged  creatures  which  were  permitted  to  be  eaten  by 
the  *  holy  people,'  and  signifies  food  for  the  intellect. 
Honey  is  what  is  spiritually  delightful,  but  wild  honey 
only  what  is  delightful  to  the  natural  mind.  John's  food 
was  thus  typical  of  the  spiritual  nourishment  afforded 
by  the  Jewish  Church  at  that  time.  John  came  to  rouse 
the  carnal  Jews  from  this  state,  a  state  from  which  the 
Word  of  God  is  ever  striving  to  awaken  the  sinner.  All 
in  whom  there  is  anything  spiritual,  any  aspiration  for 
better  things,  go  out  to  John  at  the  sound  of  his  voice 
crying  in  the  wilderness  of  their  souls,  and  calling  on 
them  to  repent. 

Even  the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  respectively, 
the  ritualists  and  the  rationalists  of  the  Jewish  Church, 
may  be  taken  as  the  symbols  of  the  will  and  understanding 
of  the  natural  man,  full  of  self-righteousness  and  in¬ 
tellectual  pride.  They  were  not  well  received,  and 
truthfully  characterised  as  a  generation  of  vipers,  for  the 
serpent  tribe  produce  arguments  in  favour  of  self  and 
the  world,  but  they  were  nevertheless  enjoined  to  bring 


THE  SACRAMENTS 


157 

forth  fruits  meet  for  repentance*  The  purpose  of  the 
heart  must  be  expressed  in  act,  we  must  cease  to  do  evil* 
Jesus  who  had  lived  hitherto  an  obscure  and  secluded 
life  now  at  the  age  of  thirty  came  from  Galilee  to  Jordan 
to  be  baptised  of  John*  The  Lord,  the  Word  Incarnate, 
came  to  the  representative  of  the  written  Word*  He 
came  from  Galilee  to  Jordan  to  symbolise  the  progression 
of  state  from  goodness  to  the  truth  which  has  power, 
power  to  subdue*  *  But  John  forbade  him,  saying,  I  have 
need  to  be  baptised  of  thee,  and  comest  thou  to  me  i  ' 
But  although  the  Lord  had  no  sin,  He  had  taken  on 
Himself  the  fallen  human  nature  of  His  mother  with  all 
her  inherited  evil  tendencies,  for  the  removal  of  which  He 
was  presently  to  undergo  temptation,  and  as  a  preparation 
or  fortification  for  this  these  had  to  be  purified  by  the 
waters  of  Jordan,  otherwise,  the  Truths  of  the  Word* 
But  if  John  represented  the  written  Word,  how  could 
he  be  in  need  of  purification  {  The  Word  is  pure  and 
holy  in  itself,  but  in  the  Jewish  Church,  and  in  the  minds 
of  the  unregenerate,  it  is  polluted  by  impure  perversions 
and  the  sanction  of  what  is  wrong,  which  is  consequently 
derived  from  it*  The  Lord  therefore  replied  :  *  Suffer 
it  to  be  so  now ;  for  thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all 
righteousness/  For  He  came  to  fulfil  the  whole  law  of 
righteousness  and  thereby  to  become  Righteousness,  He 
thus  became,  as  to  His  humanity,  the  Word  itself*  The 
immediate  results  foreshadow  the  glory  He  was  to  attain* 
Jesus  coming  out  of  the  water  represented  His  resurrection 
and  glorification*  The  opening  of  Heaven  is  one  of  the 
blessed  results  of  emerging  from  the  flood  which  has 
not  overflowed  the  soul*  The  Holy  Spirit  appeared  as  a 
dove,  an  emblem  of  pure  and  holy  affections  and  thoughts, 
and,  in  reference  to  God,  of  Divine  affections  and  thoughts, 
which  are  those  of  Divine  love  and  wisdom*  A  voice  was 
also  heard  saying,  *  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I 
am  well  pleased*'  This,  Mr*  Bruce  points  out,  could 
not  have  been  the  Father's  own  voice,  just  as  the  dove 
could  not  have  been  the  Spirit's  own  shape*  Our  Lord 
Himself  declared,  subsequently,  that  no  man  had  heard 
the  Father's  voice  at  any  time,  nor  seen  His  shape*  Both 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


158 

were  representative  and  intended  to  teach  us,  repre¬ 
sentatively,  that  the  Lord  coming  out  of  His  temptations, 
brought  down  to  Himself,  as  the  Man  made  perfect 
through  suffering,  a  measure  of  Divine  love. 

There  is  yet  another  Christian  sacrament,  the  sacra¬ 
ment  of  marriage,  but  this  has  been  treated  of  in  the 
chapter  on  Sex* 


CHAPTER  IX 
The  Church 

History  would  appear  to  confirm  the  belief  that  there 
has  always  existed  some  form  of  organised  religion* 
Even  the  French  Revolution  established  a  religion  of 
Reason,  and  constituted  a  notorious  woman  of  the  town 
its  goddess*  The  absolute  necessity  of  religion  has 
nowhere  been  more  remarkably  demonstrated  than  in 
Russia  where  the  Soviet  Government  abolished  it,  and 
where,  nevertheless,  the  people  throng  the  churches  more 
than  ever  before*  Yet  all  organised  religion  is  held  in 
contempt  by  a  certain  type  of  educated  people*  They 
look  upon  all  public  worship  and  religious  ceremonies 
as  priestcraft  invented  for  the  subjugation  of  the  masses* 
They  invite  us  to  cast  our  eyes  over  the  pages  of  history 
and  ask  us  what  we  find  i  We  shall  find,  they  say,  that 
what  are  called  the  Dark  Ages  synchronised  with  the 
domination  of  the  priesthood,  who  separated  the  life 
of  business  and  affairs  from  the  life  of  religion*  The 
religious  fled  from  this  wicked  world  and  its  allurements 
and  shut  themselves  up  in  cloistered  seclusion  to  spend 
their  days  in  prayer  and  fasting*  The  clergy  were  the 
only  possessors  of  learning,  thus  a  clerk,  originally  a 
man  in  holy  orders,  came  to  mean  a  person  who  could 
read  and  write*  The  men  of  the  world  digged  and 
delved,  and  worked  at  their  trades,  or  fought  and  robbed, 
according  to  their  station*  Such  is  at  least  the  popular 
picture  of  the  state  of  society  in  the  Middle  Ages* 
Needless  to  say,  grossly  exaggerated,  for  nothing  is  ever 
quite  as  bad  as  it  is  painted*  Then  came  the  Renaissance, 


160  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

to  be  followed  by  the  invention  of  printing,  which  broke 
down  the  monopoly  of  scholarship  which  the  clergy  had 
hitherto  held.  At  Strasburg  there  is  a  statue  to 
Gutenberg  bearing  the  inscription  'And  there  was  light/ 
Gutenberg,  who  claimed  to  be  the  inventor  of  printing, 
died  towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  (c.  1468), 
having  vindicated  his  title  to  his  invention  in  the  Stras¬ 
burg  Law  Courts  in  1439.  It  was  the  invention  of  printing 
which  facilitated  the  circulation  of  Luther's  translation  of 
the  Bible  about  a  century  later,  and  it  was  for  want  of 
printing  that  Luther's  precursor  Wycliffe,  who  translated 
the  Vulgate  and  the  Gospels  between  1360  and  1382 
and  founded  the  sect  of  the  Lollards,  was  less  successful. 

The  whole  of  this  movement,  taking  a  general  view, 
was  directed  against  ecclesiasticism  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  But  the  Renaissance  meant  a  little  more 
than  that,  it  meant  a  revival  of  the  study  of  pagan  literature 
and  art,  the  re-discovery  of  the  beauty  of  man.  It  was 
called  humanism,  and  it  meant  a  revolt  against  monasticism, 
sacerdotalism,  and  all  those  reactionary  non-progressive 
factors  described  by  the  single  word  obscuranticism. 
In  the  following  lines  : 

Know  then  thyself,  presume  not  God  to  scan, 

The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man. 

Pope,  himself  a  Papist,  all  unwittingly  epitomised  that 
Renaissance,  of  the  later  form  of  which  he  was  so  graceful 
an  exponent. 

With  the  awakening  of  the  intellect,  the  consequent 
rise  of  rationalism,  there  commenced  that  concerted 
attack  on  religion  which,  starting  from  the  region  of  pure 
imagination  and  fancy,  has  gradually,  with  the  aid  of 
science  and  philosophy,  brought  us  to  materialism  and 
the  negation  of  everything,  for  we  are  just  on  the  verge  of 
losing  even  our  faith  in  matter.  / 

All  unknown  to  the  protagonists  of  the  Renaissance, 
their  humanism  was  a  distinct  advance  on  the  mentality 
of  their  models.  The  Christianity  they  secretly  despised 
nevertheless  coloured  their  ideas  of  right  and  wrong. 
Out  of  this  movement,  this  revival  of  paganism,  there 


THE  CHURCH 


161 


grew  a  new  movement,  based  on  a  theory  of  liberty 
totally  d  fferent  from  the  classic  conception*  To  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  slavery  was  a  necessary  institution, 
and  while  the  Christian  had  abolished  it  and  had  pro¬ 
claimed  the  brotherhood  of  man,  the  feudal  system,  which 
was  accepted  by  the  Church,  had  virtually  reinstated  it, 
with  its  villeinage  and  serfdom* 

This  is  best  illustrated  by  the  case  of  Russia,  where 
the  peasants  were  all  called  Christians,  Krestiani>  and 
the  population  of  a  village  or  rural  district  was  enumerated 
in  souls,  yet  these  Christian  souls,  who  were  frequently 
addressed  as  brothers,  Bratzi ,  were  nevertheless  Krepost - 
nuye,  attached  or  *  fastened  9  to  the  soil,  and  serfs* 

With  the  spread  of  the  Bible  in  vernacular  translations 
and  the  advent  of  the  Reformation,  feudalism  received 
its  first  severe  shock*  The  trend  of  modern  culture 
has  been  towards  emancipation,  freedom  from  restraint, 
and  the  institution  of  an  earthly,  material  paradise*  This 
movement  towards  freedom  and  culture  has  been  most 
firmly  opposed  by  the  clergy,  hence  clericalism  and  all 
that  it  stands  for  has  been  regarded  as  the  enemy*  Galileo, 
for  instance,  was  forced  by  the  Inquisition  to  abjure  the 
Copernican  theory  in  1633* 

Generally  speaking,  what  we  call  progress  originated 
in  scepticism  and  culminated  in  anarchy,  as  exemplified 
by  the  French  Revolution  in  the  eighteenth  century  and 
Bolshevism  in  the  twentieth*  The  negation  of  religion 
must  inevitably  lead  to  disaster,  and  yet  it  is  obvious 
that  there  must  be  progress,  and  that  the  dead  hand  of 
clericalism  cannot  be  allowed  to  stop  the  march  of 
intellect*  The  position  seems  paradoxical*  Let  us  see 
what  light  Swedenborg  can  throw  on  this  world-problem. 

In  his  remarkable  review  of  Ranke's  *  History  of  the 
Popes/  Macaulay  lays  down  that  a  natural  theology  is 
not  a  progressive  science,  and  then  proceeds  to  say : 

But  neither  is  revealed  religion  of  the  nature  of  a  progressive 
science*  All  Divine  truth  is,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Protestant  Churches,  recorded  in  certain  books.  It  is  equally 
open  to  all  who,  in  any  age,  can  read  those  books  ;  nor  can  all 
the  discoveries  of  all  the  philosophers  in  the  world  add  a  single 

M 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


162 

verse  to  any  of  those  books.  It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  in 
divinity  there  cannot  be  a  progress  analogous  to  that  which  is 
constantly  taking  place  in  pharmacy,  geology  and  navigation. 

He  then  devotes  several  pages  to  an  elaboration,  with 
his  usual  volubility,  of  his  thesis.  With  this  dictum  all 
argument  is  closed.  Religion,  according  to  Macaulay,  is 
a  stagnant  pool  in  which  there  can  be  no  currents,  no 
changes  :  it  is  a  tideless  sea.  But  surely  history  teaches 
the  very  reverse.  We  have  the  Jewish  Church,  the 
Christian  Church,  and  later  Protestantism,  and  before 
these  the  various  pagan  religions  or  mythologies. 

In  the  *  Arcana  Coelestia  *  Swedenborg  states  that 
*  the  first  three  chapters  of  Genesis  treat  in  general  of 
the  Most  Ancient  Church,  which  is  called  Man,  from  its 
beginning  to  its  end,  when  it  perished/  The  consumma¬ 
tion  or  end  of  this  Church  is  described  by  the  Flood.  The 
second  Church,  the  Ancient,  was  in  Asia  and  part  of 
Africa.  This  was  consummated  and  destroyed  by  idola¬ 
tries.  The  third  Church  was  the  Israelitish,  which  began 
with  the  promulgation  of  the  Decalogue  on  Mount  Sinai, 
and  continued  through  the  Word  written  by  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  and  was  consummated  or  ended  by  the 
profanation  of  the  Word  :  the  fullness  of  which  profana¬ 
tion  was  at  the  time  when  the  Lord  came  into  the  world, 
and  Who,  being  the  Word  Incarnate,  was  crucified.  The 
fourth  Church  is  the  Christian,  established  by  the  Lord 
through  the  evangelists  and  apostles.  Of  this  there  have 
been  two  epochs  :  one  from  the  time  of  the  Lord  to  the 
Council  of  Nice,  and  the  other  from  that  Council  to  the 
present  day.  But  in  its  progress  this  Church  was  divided 
into  three  parts — the  Greek,  the  Roman  Catholic,  and 
the  Reformed.  They  are  all,  however,  called  Christian. 

In  the  Most  Ancient  times  men  were  informed  con¬ 
cerning  heavenly  things,  or  the  things  which  related  to 
eternal  life,  by  immediate  intercourse  with  the  angels  of 
Heaven.  For  Heaven  then  acted  as  one  with  the  men  of 
that  Church,  for  it  flowed  in  through  their  interior  mind 
into  the  external,  whence  they  were  not  only  enlightened 
and  given  perception,  but  were  able  to  converse  with 


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163 

angels.  This  period  was  called  the  Golden  Age,  because 
men  were  then  in  the  good  of  love  to  the  Lord,  which 
is  signified  by  gold.  These  conditions  are  also  described 
by  the  Garden  of  Eden,  Later,  knowledge  concerning 
Heaven  and  the  eternal  life  was  obtained  by  what  are 
called  correspondences  and  representatives,  the  science  of 
which  had  been  handed  down  from  the  Most  Ancient  men. 
Heaven  then  flowed  into  these  things  with  them  and 
enlightened  them  ;  for  correspondences  and  representa¬ 
tives  are  external  forms  of  heavenly  things.  Men  were 
thus  enlightened  in  proportion  as  they  were  in  the  good 
of  love  and  charity,  for  all  Divine  influx  from  Heaven  is 
into  the  goodness  in  man,  and  through  that  into  truth. 
This  later  period,  when  the  men  in  the  Church  were  in 
spiritual  good,  which  in  its  essence  is  truth,  was  called 
the  Silver  Age,  for  silver  is  representative  of  such  good. 
But  when  the  science  of  correspondences  and  repre¬ 
sentatives  was  turned  into  magic,  that  Church  perished, 
and  was  succeeded  by  a  third  in  which  these  were  retained, 
though  their  signification  had  been  lost.  This  was  the 
Jewish  Church.  As  the  men  of  this  Church,  having  lost 
the  science  of  correspondences,  could  no  longer  be  taught 
by  heavenly  influx,  angels  spoke  to  some  of  such  things 
by  word  of  mouth,  and  instructed  them  in  externals,  but 
very  little  in  internals,  because  they  would  not  have  been 
able  to  understand  them.  Those  who  were  in  natural 
good  received  this  instruction  devoutly,  and  this  period 
was  consequently  called  the  Bronze  or  Brass  Age,  because 
brass  signifies  such  good. 

But  when  not  even  natural  good  remained  with  the 
men  of  the  Church,  the  Lord  came  into  the  world  and 
reduced  all  things  in  Heaven  and  hell  to  order  with  the 
object  that  man  might  be  able  to  receive  influx  from 
Him  out  of  Heaven,  and  be  enlightened,  and  that  hell 
should  be  prevented  from  obstructing  and  infusing  thick 
darkness. 

This  led  to  the  formation  of  the  fourth  Church,  the 
Christian.  In  the  Christian  Church  the  Bible  is  the  only 
means  of  instruction,  and  through  this  man  has  influx 
and  enlightenment.  For  the  Word  was  written  by  pure 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


164 

correspondences  and  representatives  signifying  heavenly 
ideas,  and  the  angels,  so  to  speak,  enter  them  when  the 
Word  is  read*  A  conjunction  of  Heaven  with  the  Church 
is  thus  effected,  but  only  with  those  of  the  Church  who 
are  in  the  goodness  of  love  and  charity*  The  men  of 
this  Church  have,  however,  largely  extinguished  this 
goodness,  and  are  therefore  incapable  of  receiving  influx 
except  with  regard  to  truths  unconnected  with  goodness* 
Hence  this  period  is  called  the  Iron  Age,  for  iron  denotes 
truth  in  the  ultimate,  or  most  external  form  of  order. 
Truth  of  this  quality  will  not  adhere  to  man,  even  as 
iron  will  not  mix  with  clay*  (See  Daniel  ii.  43.) 

Thus  we  see  how  revelations  have  succeeded  one 
another  from  the  Most  Ancient  times  down  to  the  present, 
and  that  to-day  revelation  is  only  given  through  the  Word* 
Genuine  revelation,  however,  is  only  with  those  who  are 
in  the  love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake,  and  not  for  the  sake 
of  honour  or  gain*  For,  as  the  Lord  is  the  Word  itself, 
seeing  that  it  is  Divine  truth,  those  who  love  Divine 
truth  for  its  own  sake  love  the  Lord,  and  those  who  love 
the  Lord  receive  Heaven  into  their  souls  and  are  thereby 
enlightened.  But  it  is  obvious  that  those  who  love 
Divine  truth  for  the  sake  of  honour  or  gain  turn  them¬ 
selves  away  from  the  Lord,  and  are  therefore  incapable 
of  receiving  such  influx*  These,  fixing  their  minds  on 
the  letter,  interpret  its  meaning  to  suit  their  own  desire 
and  inclination,  because  they  are  intent  solely  upon  their 
own  fame  and  glory* 

When  the  end  of  a  Church  is  at  hand,  it  is  provided 
by  the  Lord  that  a  new  Church  shall  succeed,  because 
without  a  Church  in  which  the  Word  is,  and  in  which 
the  Lord  is  known,  the  world  could  not  subsist,  for 
Heaven  could  not  be  conjoined  to  the  human  race  nor 
consequently  could  Divine  truth  proceeding  from  the 
Lord  flow  in  with  new  life ;  man  would  therefore  cease 
to  be  a  man  and  become  a  beast. 

Nevertheless,  the  Lord's  spiritual  Church  is  not  limited 
to  those  who  have  the  Word,  but  is  also  with  people  who 
may  be  in  entire  ignorance  of  the  Lord  and  destitute  of  any 
of  the  truths  of  faith,  for  among  these  there  are  many  who 


THE  CHURCH 


165 

have,  in  the  light  of  reason,  convinced  themselves  of  the 
existence  of  a  God,  the  creator  and  preserver  of  all  things, 
and  the  source  of  all  goodness  and  truth,  and  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  everybody  to  endeavour  to  attain  similitude 
with  Him,  and  to  do  good  and  be  honest  and  sincere,  and 
that  that  way  blessedness  lies*  If  such  people  carry  out 
these  ideas  in  their  lives  they  live  in  love  to  God  and 
charity  to  the  neighbour*  Thus  it  is  made  clear  that  the 
Church  of  the  Lord  is  universal,  although  it  is  specifically 
where  the  Lord  is  acknowledged  and  the  Word  read*  In 
short,  the  Church  on  earth  is  like  the  heart  and  lungs  ; 
and  they  that  are  outside  the  Church  are  like  the  body 
which  is  sustained  and  kept  alive  by  the  heart  and  lungs* 
But  the  Church  is  one  thing,  and  religion  another* 
The  Church  is  called  a  Church  from  doctrine,  but  religion 
is  from  life  according  to  doctrine*  Where  there  is  doc¬ 
trine,  but  no  life  in  accordance  with  it,  there  is  neither 
Church  nor  religion,  for  doctrine  looks  to  life  as  one  with 
itself,  as  truth  looks  to  goodness,  faith  to  charity,  wisdom 
to  love,  and  understanding  to  will :  thus  there  must  be  a 
marriage  of  love  and  wisdom  in  every  true  Church,  and 
hence  the  Church  is  called  the  Bride  of  the  Lord* 

Swedenborg  adds  that  there  is  a  Church  in  Heaven 
as  well  as  on  earth,  for  the  Word  is  in  Heaven,  and  there 
are  temples  and  preachings  there,  and  ministerial  and 
priestly  offices*  For  all  the  angels  have  been  human 
beings,  and  their  life  in  Heaven  is  only  a  continuation  of 
their  mortal  life*  They  are  consequently  perfected  in 
love  and  wisdom,  according  to  the  degree  of  affection 
for  goodness  and  truth  which  they  may  have  brought 
with  them*  The  Church  among  them  is  meant  by  the 
woman  in  Revelation  xii*  1,  clothed  with  the  sun,  who 
had  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars*  As  the 
Church  cannot  subsist  in  Heaven  without  a  Church  on 
earth  which  is  its  concordant  in  love  and  wisdom,  and 
as  this  was  about  to  be,  therefore  the  moon  was  seen 
under  the  woman's  feet,  typifying  the  faith  of  the  present 
day,  by  means  of  which  there  is  no  conjunction.  The 
reason  why  the  Church  in  Heaven  cannot  exist  without 
a  Church  on  earth  is  because  the  two  act  as  one,  like  a 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


1 66 

soul  and  body*  The  internal  man  cannot  exist  without 
having  an  external,  otherwise  he  is  like  a  house  without 
a  foundation,  or  a  cause  without  an  effect* 

Swedenborg,  as  we  thus  see,  insists  on  the  necessity 
of  an  organised  Church  on  earth ;  moreover,  he  has  some 
very  interesting  things  to  say  about  priesthood  and  the 
priestly  office*  He  is  no  anarchist,  but  states  plainly  that : 

There  are  two  categories  of  affairs  among  men  which  must  be 
in  order.  Those  that  belong  to  Heaven  are  called  ecclesiastical, 
and  those  that  are  of  the  world  are  called  civil.  .  .  *  Rulers 
over  those  affairs  among  men  [he  says],  which  belong  to  Heaven, 
or  over  ecclesiastical  affairs,  are  called  priests  and  their  office 
is  called  the  priesthood  .  *  *  priests  should  teach  men  the  way 
to  Heaven  and  also  lead  them  ;  they  should  teach  them  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  doctrine  of  their  Church,  from  the  Word,  and  should 
lead  them  to  live  according  to  it.  Priests  who  teach  truths 
and  by  them  lead  to  the  good  life,  and  so  to  the  Lord,  are  good 
shepherds  .  *  .  and  those  who  teach  and  do  not  lead  to  the 
good  of  life,  and  so  to  the  Lord,  are  bad  shepherds*  Priests 
should  not  claim  for  themselves  any  power  over  the  souls  of 
men,  for  they  do  not  know  in  what  state  the  interiors  of  men  are* 
Still  less  should  they  claim  the  power  of  opening  and  shutting 
Heaven  ;  for  that  power  belongs  to  the  Lord  alone. 

Here  it  may  be  as  well  to  interpolate  what  Swedenborg 
has  to  say  about  Peter.  In  his  preface  to  the  twenty- 
second  chapter  of  Genesis  in  the  *  Arcana  Ccelestia  '  he 
writes  : 

Into  what  heresies  they  fall  who  abide  in  the  literal  sense 
(of  the  Bible)  alone  without  searching  out  the  internal  sense 
from  other  passages  in  the  Word  where  it  is  explained,  may 
appear  manifestly  from  the  number  of  heresies  which  exist, 
each  of  which  confirms  its  respective  dogma  from  the  literal 
sense  of  the  Word  ;  especially  from  that  great  heresy  which  the 
insane  and  infernal  love  of  self  and  of  the  world  has  confirmed 
from  the  Lord's  words  to  Peter  :  *  I  say  unto  thee  that  thou  art 
Peter,  and  on  this  rock  will  I  build  my  church,  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it :  and  I  will  give  unto  thee  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  the  heavens,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  in  the  heavens,  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  shall  be  loosed  in  the  heavens.' 
(Matt.  xvi.  15-19.)  Those  who  strain  the  literal  sense,  suppose 


THE  CHURCH 


167 

that  these  words  were  spoken  of  Peter,  and  that  he  had  this 
great  power  given  him  ;  although  they  knew  that  Peter  was  a 
simple  man,  and  that  he  never  exercised  such  power,  and  that 
to  exercise  it  is  contrary  to  the  Divine*  *  *  *  The  internal  sense 
of  those  words  is,  that  Faith  itself  in  the  Lord,  which  exists 
with  those  only  who  are  in  a  state  of  love  to  the  Lord,  and  of 
charity  to  the  neighbour,  has  that  power,  and  yet  not  even  faith, 
but  the  Lord  from  whom  faith  is*  By  the  rock  is  here  meant 
that  faith,  as  everywhere  else  in  the  Word  ;  on  that  the  church 
is  built,  and  against  that  the  gates  of  hell  do' not  prevail ;  and 
to  that  faith  belong  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  the  heavens  ; 
that  faith  shuts  heaven,  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  evils  and 
falsities,  and  it  opens  heaven  for  goods  and  truths.  This  is  the 
internal  sense  of  the  above  words.  The  twelve  apostles,  like 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  represented  the  things  of  such  a 
faith. 

Although  Swedenborg  is  no  sacerdotalist  in  the 
ordinary  sense,  he  nevertheless  maintains  that : 

Priests  should  have  dignity  and  honour  on  account  of  the  holy 
things  which  they  administer  ;  but  those  who  are  wise  render 
the  honour  to  the  Lord,  from  whom  these  holy  things  are,  and 
not  to  themselves,  but  those  who  are  not  wise  attribute  the 
honour  to  themselves.  These  rob  the  Lord.  They  who 
attribute  honour  to  themselves  on  account  of  the  holy  things 
they  administer,  prefer  honour  and  gain  to  the  salvation  of  the 
souls  which  they  should  care  for  ;  but  they  who  render  the 
honour  to  the  Lord  .  .  ♦  prefer  the  salvation  of  souls  before 
honour  and  gain.  No  honour  of  any  function  is  in  the  person 
but  it  is  adjoined  to  him  according  to  the  dignity  of  the  thing 
which  he  administers.  What  is  adjoined  does  not  belong  to 
the  person  himself ;  and  is  also  separated  from  him  with  the 
function.  Honour  in  the  person  is  honour  of  wisdom  and  of 
the  fear  of  the  Lord. 

Here  is  another  significant  passage  : 

The  priesthood  is  representative  of  the  Lord  as  to  the  work 
of  salvation.  .  .  .  The  priesthood  is  one  of  the  representa¬ 
tives  that  exist  even  at  the  present  day.  .  .  .  All  priests, 
whoever  or  whatever  they  are,  by  the  priestly  office  itself 
represent  the  Lord.  ♦  ♦  .  The  priestly  office  is  in  itself  holy, 
whatever  the  character  of  him  who  ministers.  Hence  it  is 
that  the  Word  when  read  by  a  wicked  man  is  equally  holy,  the 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


1 68 

same  applies  to  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  the  Holy  Supper, 
etc*  From  this  it  also  follows  that  no  priest  should  arrogate 
to  himself  any  of  the  holiness  of  his  priesthood* 

In  so  far  as  he  does  this,  or  attributes  any  of  it  to 
himself,  he  becomes  a  spiritual  thief*  In  so  far  as  he 
commits  evil  and  acts  contrary  to  justice  and  equity, 
and  contrary  to  good  and  truth,  he  casts  off  4  the  repre¬ 
sentation  of  the  holy  priesthood,  and  represents  the 
opposite*' 

Swedenborg  also  explains  the  ordination  of  the  laying 
on  of  hands. 

*  Communication,  translations,  and  also  reception  are 
signified  by  the  laying  on  of  hands*  The  reason  ...  is 
that  the  hands  signify  power.' 

As  man's  faculties  are  in  his  head,  and  the  body  should 
act  in  obedience  to  the  understanding  and  the  will,  the 
hand  is  placed  on  the  head,  thus  conveying  a  blessing 
and  potency  to  these.  But  Swedenborg  has  not  a  good 
word  to  say  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostolic  Succession  ; 
this  he  characterises  as  an  invention  of  self-love,  and  the 
love  of  domination  thence  derived,  as  is  also  the  supposed 
translation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  man  to  man.  *  The 
holy  effluence,'  he  says,  '  which  is  meant  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  is  not  transferred  from  man  to  man,  but  from  the 
Lord  through  man  to  man*' 

The  Divine  effluence  [he  says  in  another  passage],  which 
is  called  the  Holy  Spirit,  proceeding  from  God  by  His  humanity 
passes  through  the  angelic  heaven,  and  through  this  into  the 
world  ;  thus  through  angels  into  men.  Thence,  through  man 
to  man,  and  in  the  Church  especially  through  the  clergy  to  the 
laity  ;  what  is  holy  is  given  continually,  but  recedes  if  the  Lord 
be  not  approached.  ♦  *  . 

It  proceeds,  he  continues,  *  from  the  Lord,  through  the 
clergy  to  the  laity  by  preachings,  according  to  reception 
of  .  ♦  .  truth  ♦  ♦  ♦  and  by  the  Holy  Supper,  according  to 
repentance  before  it*' 

We  learn,  further,  that  reformation,  regeneration, 
renovation,  vivification,  sanctification,  justification,  puri¬ 
fication,  the  remission  of  sins,  and  finally  salvation,  flow 


THE  CHURCH 


169 

in  from  the  Lord  with  the  clergy  as  well  as  the  laity ;  and 
are  received  by  those  who  are  in  the  Lord  and  the  Lord 
in  them* 

With  the  clergy  there  is  in  particular  illustration  and 
instruction,  because  these  belong  to  their  office,  and  inaugura¬ 
tion  carries  them  with  it.  In  the  degree  in  which  a  priest 
desires  from  affection  to  effect  the  salvation  of  souls,  to  teach 
the  way  to  Heaven,  and  to  lead  those  who  are  taught,  he  acquires 
the  truths  he  should  preach  and  by  which  he  should  lead. 
While  priests  should  instruct  their  flock  and  lead  them  by  truths 
along  the  path  of  righteousness,  yet  should  they  not  use  com¬ 
pulsion,  for  no  one  can  by  compulsion  be  made  to  believe  what 
he  does  not  in  his  heart  consider  to  be  true.  He  who  believes 
differently  from  the  priest  should  be  left  in  peace  as  long  as  he 
behaves  quietly,  but  should  he  make  a  disturbance  he  must  be 
removed  for  the  sake  of  order. 

We  now,  having  prepared  the  way,  so  to  speak,  will 
find  it  more  easy  to  attack  the  problem  raised  at  the 
beginning  of  this  chapter.  Perhaps  the  best  course  will 
be  to  let  Swedenborg  again  speak  in  his  own  words,  for 
it  is  impossible  to  improve  on  his  admirable  and  lucid 
style  : 

The  Christian  Church  [he  says  in  1  The  True  Christian 
Religion  '],  from  the  time  of  the  Lord,  has  passed  through  the 
several  periods  from  infancy  to  extreme  old  age.  Its  infancy 
was  during  the  time  in  which  the  Apostles  lived,  and  preached 
to  the  whole  world  repentance  and  faith  in  the  Lord  God,  the 
Saviour.  ♦  ,  ♦  (Acts  xx.  21.) 

He  then  continues  that  the  Church  at  this  day  has 
been  brought  to  such  a  state  of  consummation  that 
scarcely  any  remains  of  it  are  left.  This  he  attributes  to 
the  separation  of  the  Divine  Trinity  into  three  Persons, 
each  God  and  Lord.  The  whole  system  of  theology,  as 
well  as  the  Christian  Church,  have  been  infected  by  a 
mental  derangement  amounting  to  delirium  in  conse¬ 
quence,  because  people  have  been  left  in  doubt  as  to 
whether  there  was  one  God  or  three.  While  confessing 
one  God  with  their  lips,  they  entertain  the  idea  of  three 
Gods  in  their  minds,  so  that  their  words  and  their  thoughts 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


170 

are  not  in  unison,  with  the  result  that  they  end  by  denying 
the  existence  of  a  God  altogether*  This,  Swedenborg 
avers,  is  the  true  source  of  modern  monism,  which  is  called 
naturalism  by  some  and  materialism  by  others. 

From  its  earliest  infancy  the  Christian  Church  began 
to  be  infested  and  *  rent  asunder  by  schisms  and  heresies/ 
and  in  process  of  time  was  torn  and  mangled  much  like  the 
man  we  read  of  who  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho 
and  fell  among  thieves,  who  stripped  and  wounded  him  and 
left  him  half  dead  (Luke  x,  30),  Hence  has  come  about 
the  consummation  and  devastation  foretold  by  Daniel  (ix. 
27)  and  referred  to  by  our  Lord  (Matthew  xxiv,  14-15), 
After  showing  how  the  Church  was  tossed  and  torn,  from 
ecclesiastical  history,  and  mentioning  the  various  dis¬ 
turbers  of  true  doctrine,  he  points  out  that  the  Apostolic 
Church  had  no  idea  of  a  trinity  of  three  persons  existing 
from  eternity,  as  is  evident  from  the  Apostles'  Creed  in 
which  no  mention  is  made  of  a  Son  born  from  eternity, 
but  in  which  Jesus  Christ  is  correctly  described  as  God 
the  Father  Almighty's  *  only  Son  our  Lord,  Who  was  con¬ 
ceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  etc,' 

This  Apostolic  Church  was  of  considerable  magnitude 
and  extended  to  three-quarters  of  the  globe,  as  appears 
from  the  territory  of  the  Empire  of  Constantine  the  Great, 
who,  Swedenborg  states,  was  not  only  a  Christian  in  name, 
but  zealous  in  favour  of  religion.  At  the  instance  of 
Alexander,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  he  called  a  Council  to 
assemble  at  the  imperial  palace  at  Nice  for  the  purpose  of 
refuting  authoritatively  the  heresy  of  Arius,  who  denied 
the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  This  Council,  composed  of 
bishops,  decided  that  from  eternity  there  had  been  three 
persons.  The  result  of  that  Council  was  the  perpetration, 
first  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  and  later  of  the  Athanasian, 
As  Swedenborg  quaintly  puts  it,  according  to  this  creed 
*  it  is  allowable  to  acknowledge  three  gods  and  three 
lords,  but  not  to  say  there  are  three  gods  or  three  lords ; 
and  the  reason  assigned  in  the  latter  case  is  because  re¬ 
ligion  forbids  it,  and  in  the  former  because  verity  of  truth 
dictates  it,' 

Unfortunate  as  the  consequences  of  the  Council  of  Nice 


THE  CHURCH 


171 

were,  it  was  right  of  Constantine  to  call  it  with  the  view  of 
scotching  the  Arian  heresy,  for  a  Christian  Church  which 
did  not  recognise  the  divinity  of  Christ  would  have  re¬ 
sembled  a  tombstone  with  Hie  jacet  l  inscribed  on  it 
rather  than  a  Church* 

Swedenborg  compares  the  Apostolic  Church  to  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  Arius  is  the  serpent,  and  the  Council  of 
Nice,  Eve*  The  nakedness  of  Adam  and  Eve  signifies 
innocence,  and  fig-leaves  the  truths  of  the  natural  man 
which  were  successively  falsified,  and  he  adds  : 

The  primitive  or  apostolic  church  could  never  have  conceived 
that  a  Church  would  follow,  which  would  worship  several  gods 
with  the  heart  and  one  with  the  lips  ;  which  would  separate 
charity  from  faith,  the  remission  of  sins  from  repentance  and 
the  leading  of  a  new  life  ;  and  which  would  exhibit  absolute 
impotence  in  spiritual  matters  ;  and  least  of  all,  that  an  Arius 
would  lift  up  his  head,  and  when  dead  become  resuscitated, 
and  reign,  though  unavowedly,  to  the  end. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  described  by  Sweden¬ 
borg  in  his  *  Apocalypse  Explained/  The  Roman  Catho¬ 
lics,  by  whom  Babylon  is  meant,  are  thus  spoken  of : 

Under  the  pretence  of  the  keys  being  given  to  Peter,  they 
have  transferred  to  themselves  all  the  Divine  power  of  the  Lord 
— having  locked  up  Divine  Truth  from  the  people  by  taking 
away  the  Word — and  have  attributed  to  the  dictates  of  the  Pope 
a  sanctity  equal,  yea,  actually  superior  to  the  sanctity  of  the 
Word.  They  also  teach  but  little,  if  anything,  of  the  fear  and 
worship  of  God  ;  but  the  fear  and  worship  of  themselves,  and 
also  the  worship  of  holy  things  for  the  sake  of  themselves. 
Hence  it  is  evident  that  Babylon  in  its  end  is  the  Church  void 
and  empty  of  all  the  good  of  love  towards  the  neighbour,  and 
consequently  of  all  truth.  Whence  it  is  no  longer  a  Church  but 
an  idolatry.  .  *  .  Wherefore  also  after  death  those  idolaters 
come  amongst  the  pagans,  and  no  longer  amongst  Christians. 
But  from  those  who  have  not  worshipped  the  Pope,  nor  the 
saints  and  graven  images,  but  the  Lord,  a  new  Church  is 
collected  by  Him. 

This  sufficiently  explains  how  it  is  that  the  progress  of 
the  human  race  during  the  last  sixteen  hundred  years  or 
so  has  been  effected  in  spite  of  the  Church,  and  has  been 


172 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


on  the  lines  of  the  negation  of  established  religion  ;  for 
it  has  been  a  revolt  against  the  organised  hypocrisy  of  the 
Church,  a  Church  which,  while  preaching  religion  with 
its  lips,  was  at  heart  worldly,  seeking  power  and  possessions, 
and  secretly  scoffing  at  the  religion  it  pretended  to  teach* 
Man  must  have  liberty,  and  had  to  emancipate  himself 
from  the  thraldom  of  licentious  hypocrites*  It  is  sufficient 
to  name  Pope  Alexander  VI  and  Cardinal  Richelieu,  or  to 
point  to  the  infamous  cruelties  of  the  Inquisition,  to  show 
what  we  mean*  The  Dark  Ages  were  well  named,  they 
represented  the  reign  of  obscurantism  and  mystery-mon- 
gering,  when  the  people  were  kept  in  mental  bondage  and 
were  not  allowed  to  think*  That  bondage  has  been  thrown 
off,  but  to-day  we  can  say  with  Mary  :  4  They  have  taken 
away  the  Lord  out  of  the  sepulchre,  and  we  know 
not  where  they  have  laid  him  '  (John  xx*  2)*  For  the 
Protestant  religion,  although  it  set  free  the  Word,  has  made 
confusion  worse  confounded  by  separating  faith  from 
charity,  and  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement* 

The  Protestant  attitude  is  severely  summarised  by 
Swedenborg  in  *  The  True  Christian  Religion/  as  follows : 

What  doctrine  more  abounds  in  the  books  of  the  orthodox 
at  this  day,  or  what  is  more  zealously  taught  and  insisted  on  in 
the  schools  of  divinity,  or  more  constantly  preached  and  cried 
up  in  the  pulpit,  than  this,  that  God  the  Father,  being  full  of 
wrath  against  mankind,  not  only  separated  them  from  Himself, 
but  also  sentenced  them  to  universal  damnation  ;  and  thus 
excommunicated  them  from  His  favour ;  but  that  being 
gracious  and  merciful,  persuaded  or  excited  His  Son  to  descend, 
and  take  upon  Himself  the  determined  curse,  and  so  to  appease 
the  wrath  of  His  Father,  and  that  thus  only  could  the  Father 
be  prevailed  upon  to  restore  mankind  to  grace  i  That  this 
was  moreover  effected  by  the  Son  by  His  taking  upon  Himself 
the  curse  pronounced  on  men,  by  submitting  to  be  scourged, 
spat  upon  and  finally  to  be  crucified  as  the  accursed  of  God,  and 
that  thus  the  Father  was  satisfied,  and,  from  love  to  His  Son, 
revoked  the  sentence  of  damnation,  but  only  in  favour  of  those 
for  whom  the  Son  might  intercede,  the  Son  thus  becoming 
a  perpetual  Mediator  in  the  presence  of  His  Father  i  ♦  ♦  ♦  But 
whosoever  has  his  reason  enlightened,  and  is  restored  to  sanity 
by  the  Word,  must  see  that  God  is  mercy  and  clemency  itself. 


THE  CHURCH 


173 

for  He  is  love  itself  and  goodness  itself,  and  these  constitute  His 
essence ;  consequently  it  is  a  contradiction  to  say  that  mercy 
itself,  or  goodness  itself,  could  behold  a  man  with  an  angry  eye, 
sentence  him  to  damnation,  and  still  abide  in  His  own  Divine 
essence.  Such  dispositions  cannot  be  ascribed  to  a  good  man 
or  to  an  angel  of  Heaven,  but  are  only  conceivable  of  a  wicked 
man  and  a  spirit  of  hell ;  it  is  therefore  blasphemy  to  ascribe 
them  to  God, 

He  explains  that  these  errors  have  arisen  through  men 
mistaking  the  passion  of  the  cross  for  redemption  itself, 
Isaiah  said  truly,  *  The  priest  and  the  prophet  have  erred 
through  strong  drink ;  they  stumble  in  judgment ;  all 
tables  are  full  of  vomit  and  filthiness/  (xxviii,  7-8.) 

*  From  this  idea  of  God  and  redemption/  Swedenborg 
continues,  *  the  whole  system  of  theology  has  lost  its 
spirituality,  and  is  become  in  the  lowest  degree  material/ 
He  then  shows  how  the  form  of  prayer  which  prevails 
to-day  throughout  Christendom,  according  to  which  men 
are  enjoined  to  pray  to  God  the  Father  to  remit  their 
sins  for  the  sake  of  the  cross  and  blood  of  His  Son,  and 
to  God  the  Son  to  intercede  for  them,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  justify  and  sanctify  them,  involves  appeals  to 
three  distinct  gods  in  turn. 

How  [he  asks]  can  the  notion  which  the  mind  forms  of  the 
Divine  government  differ  from  that  of  an  aristocratic  or 
hierarchic  government,  or  from  that  of  the  ancient  triumvirate 
of  Rome  i  .  ,  ♦  And  in  such  a  government  what  is  easier  than 
for  the  devil  to  put  in  practice  the  old  maxim  divide  et  impera ; 
namely  to  distract  men's  minds,  and  excite  rebellion  sometimes 
against  one  God  and  sometimes  against  another,  as  has  been 
his  practice  since  the  time  of  Arius  to  this  day  ,  ,  ♦  i 

How  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  mankind  to  sweep 
such  man-made,  hell-inspired,  superstitions  away  !  But 
how  to  accomplish  the  destruction  of  heresies  which  have 
taken  so  deep  a  root  i  They  must  be  torn  out  by  those 
very  roots.  There  used  to  be  a  pleasant  theory  that  the 
use  of  the  huge  prehistoric  monsters,  of  which  fossilised 
remains  have  from  time  to  time  been  discovered,  was  to 
destroy  the  primeval  forests,  with  which  this  planet  was 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


174 

covered,  by  tearing  out  the  trees  by  the  roots  in  certain 
parts,  in  order  to  provide  dwelling-places  suitable  for  man* 
It  is  only  by  minds  not  much  inferior  in  ferocity  to  such 
animals,  that  the  growth  of  dark  and  umbrageous  pseudo¬ 
religious  falsities  can  be  removed*  The  work  has  indeed 
already  been  very  thoroughly  done  ;  we  need  only  mention 
Voltaire  to  make  our  meaning  clear*  He  has  had  many 
successors*  But  we  are  approaching  a  time  when  con¬ 
structive  work  must  follow  destruction*  The  tabula  rasa 
has  been  made,  what  shall  be  put  in  the  place  of  the 
former  obstructions  which  made  the  territory  uninhabit¬ 
able  i 

It  seems  obvious  that  a  new  Church  on  earth  can  be 
effectually  instituted  only  by  a  Second  Advent,  and  this 
is  what  Swedenborg  teaches,  this  it  was  his  mission  to 
proclaim* 

We  have  seen  that  there  have  already  been  four 
Churches  in  this  world — one  before  the  Flood,  one  after 
the  Flood,  then  the  Jewish,  and  lastly  the  Christian*  All 
Churches  should  be  founded  on  the  knowledge  and 
acknowledgment  of  one  God,  with  whom  their  members 
could  have  conjunction,  but  notone  of  these  four  Churches 
has  preserved  that  truth*  The  Most  Ancient  Church 
worshipped  the  invisible  God,  with  whom  there  can  be 
no  conjunction,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  Ancient 
Church*  The  Jewish  Church  worshipped  Jehovah  in 
human  form  represented  by  certain  angels  who  appeared 
to  the  prophets — to  Abraham,  Moses,  and  many  others* 
This  Church  was  not  a  spiritual  Church  at  all,  but  a  repre¬ 
sentative  one  preparatory  for  the  Christian*  Thus  the 
angel  who  appeared  to  the  patriarchs  and  the  prophets 
was  representative  of  our  Lord,  the  prophets  foretold  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah,  and  all  the  rites  and  sacrifices  of 
that  Church  were  representative,  and  abrogated  at  the 
coming  of  our  Lord* 

The  fourth  Church,  called  the  Christian  Church, 
acknowledged  one  God  with  the  lips,  but  confused  three 
gods  in  the  mind*  This  Church  has  also  come  to  an 
end,  for  it  has  lost  touch  with  life,  and  is  even  in  oppo¬ 
sition  to  the  facts  of  life*  Now,  one  of  Swedenborg's 


THE  CHURCH 


175 

most  often  quoted  obiter  dicta  is  that  *  all  religion  has 
relation  to  life/  to  which  he  added  that  the  religion  of 
life  was  to  do  good* 

Thus  we  see  how  religion  has  been  slowly  and 
laboriously  evolved,  for  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly, 
but  they  grind  exceeding  small* 

And  now,  Swedenborg  proclaims,  there  is  to  succeed 
a  new  Church,  which  is  to  endure  for  ages,  and  is  destined 
to  become  the  crown  of  all  the  Churches  which  have 
preceded  it*  He  quotes  innumerable  passages  from  the 
prophets,  notably  from  Daniel,  Isaiah,  and  Jeremiah,  to 
show  that  this  Church  was  foretold  by  them* 

Before  describing  this  new  Church,  we  must  state 
what  Swedenborg  has  to  say  about  the  Second  Advent 
and  the  Day  of  Judgment* 

It  is  the  prevailing  opinion  at  this  day  in  every  church 
[he  writes  in  his  last  published  work,  *  The  True  Christian 
Religion  *]  that  the  Lord,  when  He  comes  to  the  last  judgment, 
will  appear  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven  with  angels  and  the  sound 
of  trumpets  ;  that  He  will  gather  together  all  who  may  then 
be  living  on  the  earth,  as  well  as  all  who  are  deceased,  and  will 
separate  the  evil  from  the  good,  as  a  shepherd  separates  the 
goats  from  the  sheep,  that  then  He  will  cast  the  evil,  or  the 
goats,  into  hell,  and  raise  up  the  good,  or  the  sheep,  into  Heaven ; 
and  further,  that  He  will  at  the  same  time  create  a  new  visible 
heaven  and  a  new  habitable  earth,  and  that  on  the  latter  He 
will  cause  a  city  to  descend,  which  is  to  be  called  the  New 
Jerusalem,  and  is  to  be  built  according  to  the  description  given 
in  Revelations  (chap*  xxi.)  *  *  *  and  that  all  the  elect  are  to  be 
gathered  together  in  this  city,  both  those  who  may  then  be 
alive,  and  those  who  have  died  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  ; 
and  that  the  latter  will  then  return  into  their  bodies  and  enjoy 
everlasting  bliss  in  that  magnificent  city*  *  *  * 

In  regard  to  the  state  of  souls  after  death,  both  universally 
and  particularly,  it  is  the  common  belief  at  this  day,  that  human 
souls  after  death  are  mere  aerial  beings,  of  which  it  is  impossible 
to  form  any  idea  but  as  a  vapour  of  exhalation  *  *  *  but  on 
these  points  there  are  various  opinions  *  *  *  the  general 
supposition  is  that  they  are  reserved  till  the  time  when  the  whole 
firmament  together  with  the  terraqueous  globe  will  be  destroyed, 
and  that  this  is  to  be  effected  by  fire  either  bursting  from  the 
centre  of  the  earth,  or  cast  down  from  Heaven  in  an  universal 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


176 

blaze  of  lightning ;  that  then  the  graves  will  be  opened,  and 
the  souls  that  were  reserved  will  be  clothed  again  with  their 
bodies  and  translated  into  that  holy  city,  Jerusalem.  ♦  ♦  *  When 
a  clergyman  or  layman  is  asked  whether  he  firmly  believes  that 
the  antediluvians  .  .  .  with  Adam  and  Eve  .  ♦  .  and  ♦  ♦  ♦ 
Noah  with  his  sons — Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob  and  all  the  prophets 
and  apostles,  are,  in  like  manner  .  ♦  ♦  still  reserved  in  the 
middle  of  the  earth,  or  flying  about  in  the  ether  or  air  ;  and 
also  whether  he  believes  that  their  souls  will  be  again  clothed 
with  their  bodies,  and  again  enter  into  connection  with  carcases 
eaten  by  worms,  by  mice,  fish,  or  ...  by  men,  and  with 
skeletons  parched  in  the  sun  and  reduced  to  powder  ;  and 
further  whether  he  believes  that  the  stars  of  heaven  will  fall 
upon  the  earth,  which  yet  is  smaller  than  any  of  them  ♦  ♦  . 
Some  of  them  will  make  no  reply  ;  some  will  insist  that  such 
points  are  matters  of  faith,  to  which  the  understanding  must 
be  kept  in  obedience  ;  some  again  will  argue  that  not  only 
those  things,  but  also  many  others,  which  are  beyond  the 
comprehension  of  reason,  are  works  of  Divine  omnipotence  ; 
and  when  they  mention  faith  and  omnipotence,  sound  reason  is 
banished.  ♦  .  ♦ 

But  the  Second  Coming  of  the  Lord  is  not  for  the 
destruction  of  the  material  universe.  It  is,  Swedenborg 
assures  us,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  new  heaven  of 
those  who  have  believed  in  the  Lord,  and  to  establish  a 
new  Church  of  those  who  shall  hereafter  believe  in  Him. 
In  this  work  the  statement  has  repeatedly  been  made 
that  the  end  of  creation  was  the  formation  of  an  angelic 
heaven  composed  of  human  beings,  and  for  this  purpose 
a  Church  on  earth  is  necessary,  for  man's  road  to  Heaven 
is  via  the  Church.  The  Lord  is  continually  present  with 
every  being,  whether  evil  or  good,  for  without  His 
presence  no  man  could  live,  but  His  coming  is  only  with 
those  who  receive  Him,  and  who  do  His  commandments. 
It  is  the  continual  presence  of  the  Lord  which  is  the 
efficient  cause  of  man's  rationality  and  his  ability  to 
become  spiritual,  for  it  is  an  effect  of  the  light  of  the 
spiritual  sun  which,  as  we  have  seen  in  our  first  chapter, 
proceeds  from  the  Lord.  This  light,  like  the  light  of 
the  natural  sun,  must  be  joined  to  heat  to  produce  any¬ 
thing  useful.  It  is  the  same  with  the  soil  of  the  human 


THE  CHURCH 


177 

mind:  unless  we  desire  to  do  good,  unless  we  have  the 
affection  for  truth  and  join  it  to  our  minds  by  work,  by 
effort  in  the  direction  of  goodness,  we  cannot  produce* 
There  is  thus  a  parallelism  between  the  spiritual  things 
of  the  soul  and  the  natural  things  of  the  body*  We  have 
seen  why  the  Lord  could  not  come  to  the  Christian 
Church*  That  Church  had  no  love  for  Him ;  moreover, 
it  separated  faith  from  charity,  consequently  no  marriage 
of  that  Church  with  the  Lord  was  possible,  seeing  that 
the  heavenly  marriage  is  the  union  of  love  and  wisdom, 
and  therefore  of  faith  and  charity*  Yet  the  Church  is 
described  as  the  Bride  of  the  Lord,  and  indeed  this  is 
what  she  should  be  for  reasons  so  obvious  that  we  need 
not  expatiate  upon  them*  Let  us,  however,  quote  one 
illustration  from  Swedenborg  : 

Man  considered  in  the  compound  or  aggregate  is  a  church 
consisting  of  several  members  ;  and  man  considered  as  an 
individual  or  a  component  part  is  a  church  in  each  of  these* 
It  is  according  to  Divine  order  that  there  be  general  things 
in  common  and  particular  things,  and  that  both  be  together  in 
every  created  being,  the  component  parts  existing  and  subsist¬ 
ing  in  no  other  way*  Thus  in  the  case  of  man  no  part  within 
him  could  exist  or  subsist,  unless  it  were  enclosed,  as  it  were, 
in  a  common  bond* 

After  illustrating  this  from  anatomy  and  by  the 
example  of  musical  instruments,  he  proceeds  : 

These  instances  are  adduced  for  the  sake  of  illustration, 
to  show  that  the  Church  has  its  general  principles  which  are  in 
common,  and  its  particulars,  and  likewise  its  universal  or  most 
common  principles,  and  that  it  is  on  this  ground  that  four 
churches  have  proceeded  in  regular  order,  from  which  progres¬ 
sion  the  most  general  or  universal  principle  of  the  Church  has 
arisen,  and  in  process  of  time  what  is  general  and  particular  in 
each  church*  *  *  *  The  two  most  general  forms  in  the  human 
body  are  the  heart  and  lungs  ;  and  in  the  soul,  the  will  and  the 
understanding,  on  which  all  things  of  life  depend  both  in 
general  and  in  particular  :  without  them  man  would  decline 
and  die*  The  same  would  happen  to  the  whole  angelic  Heaven, 
and  the  whole  race  of  mankind,  indeed,  to  the  whole  created 
universe,  unless  all  things  in  general  and  everything  in  parti¬ 
cular  were  sustained  by  God,  His  love  and  wisdom* 


N 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


178 

The  successive  states  of  the  Church,  both  in  general 
and  in  particular,  are  described  in  the  Word  by  the  four 
seasons  of  the  year — spring,  summer,  autumn,  winter — 
and  by  the  four  periods  of  the  day — morning,  noon, 
evening,  and  night*  The  Christian  Church,  having 
turned  itself  away  from  the  Lord,  has  therefore  reached 
its  fourth  state,  that  of  winter  and  night*  It  follows 
from  this  that  the  morning  of  a  fresh  day  must  be  at 
hand* 

We  have  stated  that  the  Second  Coming  of  the 
Messiah  had  been  foretold  by  the  prophets  ;  we  have 
shown  that  it  could  not  logically  be  effected  in  the  manner 
supposed  by  tradition*  There  can  be  no  burning  up  of 
the  universe,  no  rehabilitation  of  the  corpses  of  the 
countless  numbers  of  human  beings  that  have  lived  on 
earth*  How,  then,  is  the  Second  Advent  to  be  effected  i 

Swedenborg  shows  that  in  the  Bible  the  announcement 
is  made  in  many  places  that  the  Lord  will  come  in  the 
clouds  of  Heaven*  But  what  is  meant  by  the  clouds  of 
Heaven  i  Meteorologists  can  tell  us  that  we  must  not 
expect  the  Deity  to  descend  upon  us  from  the  nebulae  of 
the  sky*  Swedenborg,  however,  explains  that  the  clouds 
of  Heaven  are  the  Word  in  its  literal  sense,  whilst  the 
spiritual  sense  is  meant  by  the  power  and  glory  in  which 
the  Lord  is  to  come*  Swedenborg  then  continues  : 

Now  since  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  has  been  opened 
to  me  by  the  Lord,  and  it  has  been  granted  to  me  to  be  with 
angels  and  spirits  in  their  world  as  one  of  themselves,  it  has 
been  revealed  to  me  that  the  clouds  of  heaven  signify  the  Word 
in  its  natural  sense,  and  the  glory  the  Word  in  its  spiritual  sense, 
whilst  the  power  is  the  effectual  (or  actual)  operation  of  the 
Lord  by  (means  of)  the  Word* 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  by  quotation  from  various 
passages  in  the  Word  that  the  clouds  of  Heaven  have  this 
signification,  and  explains  that  the  Word  in  its  literal 
sense  was  represented  by  the  cloud  in  which  Jehovah 
descended  on  Mount  Sinai,  In  the  4  Arcana  Ccelestia/ 
in  his  comments  on  *  the  pillar  of  a  cloud  '  which  was  to 
lead  the  Israelites  by  day,  he  says  : 


THE  CHURCH 


179 


Throughout  the  Word  it  is  said  that  Jehovah  appeared  in  a 
cloud,  and  that  He  was  girded  with  a  cloud,  also  that  there  was 
a  cloud  beneath  His  feet ;  in  which  passage  a  cloud  means  an 
obscuration  of  the  Word,  specifically,  in  the  literal  sense,  for 
this  sense,  in  respect  to  the  internal  sense,  is  an  obscuration 
of  the  truth.  ♦  ♦  ♦  The  internal  sense,  which  is  called  glory, 
cannot  be  understood  by  an  unregenerate  person.  ♦  .  . 

For  if  the  internal  sense  were  presented  to  such  a 
person  in  its  glory,  it  would  be  like  thick  darkness  in 
which  he  could  see  nothing,  he  would  consequently  be 
blinded,  and  believe  nothing. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  Lord  coming  *  in  clouds 
descending '  must  mean  that  He  will  not  appear  in 
person,  but  in  the  Word.  He  cannot  appear  in  person, 
because  He  is  in  His  glorified  humanity,  which  is  invisible 
to  men  unless  their  eyes  are  opened,  as  was  the  case 
with  the  disciples  (Luke  xxiv.  31).  This  opening  of  the 
eyes  cannot  be  effected  in  those  who  have  confirmed 
themselves  in  evils,  and  the  errors  thence  derived.  Here 
follows  a  passage  which  must  be  quoted  in  full  : 

Since  the  Lord  [Swedenborg  says]  cannot  manifest  Him¬ 
self  in  person  (to  the  world)  .  .  .  and  yet  has  foretold  that  He 
would  come  and  establish  a  New  Church  which  is  the  New 
Jerusalem,  it  follows  that  He  will  effect  this  by  the  instru¬ 
mentality  of  a  man  capable  not  only  of  receiving  the  doctrines 
of  that  church  in  his  understanding  but  also  of  making  them 
known  by  the  press.  That  the  Lord  manifested  Himself 
before  me,  his  servant,  that  He  sent  me  on  this  office,  and 
afterwards  opened  the  sight  of  my  spirit,  and  so  let  me  into 
the  spiritual  world,  permitting  me  to  see  the  heavens  and  the 
hells,  and  also  to  converse  with  angels  and  spirits,  and  this 
now  continually  for  many  years,  I  attest  in  truth  ;  and  further, 
that  from  the  first  day  of  my  call  to  this  office,  I  have  never 
received  anything  relating  to  the  doctrines  of  that  church  from 
any  angel,  but  from  the  Lord  alone,  while  I  was  reading  the  Word. 

With  regard  to  this  New  Church  thus  ordained  and 
foretold,  Swedenborg  explains  that  it  is  agreeable  to 
Divine  order  for  a  new  heaven  to  be  formed  first,  because 
the  internal  must  be  formed  before  the  external,  which  is 
then  formed  from  the  internal.  In  proportion,  therefore, 


i8o 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


as  this  new  heaven  increases,  the  descent  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  is  facilitated  and  the  New  Church  enlarged* 
This  cannot  be  effected  instantaneously,  but  is  a  slow 
process,  because  it  can  only  be  carried  out  in  proportion 
as  the  errors  of  the  former  Church  are  removed*  New 
wine  cannot  be  poured  into  old  bottles  (or  skins),  lest 
the  bottles  (or  skins)  break  and  the  wine  runs  out*  4  Wine 
is  spiritual  truth/  By  putting  new  wine  into  new  bottles 
both  are  preserved*  The  same  truth  is  illustrated  in  the 
parable  of  the  sower,  where  the  wheat  are  the  truths  and 
goods  of  the  New  Church,  tares  the  falses  and  evils  of 
the  old,  and  the  harvest  or  consummation  of  the  age, 
the  end  of  the  Church* 

We  will  conclude  this  chapter  with  the  following  extracts 
from  Swedenborg's  preface  to  4  The  Apocalypse  Revealed*' 

Not  a  few  [he  says]  have  laboured  in  explaining  the 
Apocalypse,  but  as  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  had  hitherto 
been  unknown,  they  could  not  see  the  mysteries  which  are 
hidden  within  it,  for  those  can  only  be  unfolded  by  the 
spiritual  sense*  Expositors  have  therefore  formed  various 
conjectures,  most  of  them  applying  its  contents  to  the  affairs 
of  empires,  blending  them  at  the  same  time  with  ecclesiastical 
matters*  The  Apocalypse,  however,  like  the  rest  of  the  Word, 
in  its  spiritual  sense,  treats  not  of  mundane,  but  of  heavenly 
matters,  thus  not  of  empires  and  kingdoms,  but  of  Heaven  and 
the  Church  *  *  * 

Anyone  may  see  that  the  Apocalypse  could  not  possibly  be 
explained  but  by  the  Lord  alone,  since  every  word  of  it  contains 
mysteries  which  never  could  be  known  without  some  special 
enlightenment  and  consequent  revelation  ;  wherefore  it  has 
pleased  the  Lord  to  open  the  sight  of  my  spirit,  and  to  teach 
me*  Think  not,  therefore,  that  anything  here  given  is  from 
myself,  or  from  any  angel,  it  is  from  the  Lord  alone*  More¬ 
over  the  Lord  said  by  an  angel  to  John  :  4  Seal  not  the  sayings 
of  the  prophecy  of  this  book  *  (chap*  xxii*  io) ;  by  which  is 
understood  that  they  are  to  be  made  manifest* 

f  The  Apocalypse  Revealed,'  in  one  volume,  and  his 
more  elaborate  posthumous  work,  4  The  Apocalypse 
Explained,'  in  six  volumes,  are  published  by  the  Sweden¬ 
borg  Society,  both  in  the  original  Latin  and  in  an  English 
translation* 


CHAPTER  X 
The  Soul 

As  this  is  a  popular  book,  we  have  incorrectly  entitled 
this  chapter  *  The  Soul/  when  we  really  intend  to  treat 
of  the  immortal  man  generally*  There  are,  however,  four 
distinct  terms  which  Swedenborg  applies  to  the  spiritual 
part  of  man,  each  with  a  different  and  very  definite 
signification,  viz*  spiritusy  anima,  mens,  and  animus *  By 
spiritus  (spirit)  he  means  the  whole  immortal  man — all 
that  which  lives  as  a  man  after  death  and  is  popularly 
called  the  soul*  This  includes  the  other  three*  Anima 
(the  soul)  is  strictly  the  very  inmost  of  man's  spirit  and 
the  first  receptacle  of  life  from  the  Lord  ;  and  by  deriva¬ 
tion,  inmostly  pervades  and  is  the  life  of  the  whole  mind 
and  body*  Mens  (the  mind)  is  intermediate  between  the 
anima  and  animus ,  and  in  itself  comprises  three  discrete 
degrees — the  highest,  middle,  and  lowest*  The  animus  is 
the  lower  and  external  mind,  composed  of  affections  and 
outward  inclinations  insinuated  principally  after  death, 
by  education,  association,  and  habits  of  life* 

Here  we  have  a  complete  anatomy  of  the  human  soul, 
which  Byron,  speaking  of  the  death  of  Keats,  described 
as  *  that  fiery  particle  *  which  was  *  snuffed  out  by  an 
article*'  In  popular  language,  the  immortal  part  of  man 
is  generally  referred  to  as  the  soul* 

What  is  the  soul  i  To-day  people  talk  of  all  kinds 
of  souls  ;  they  talk  of  the  soul  of  a  nation,  and  they  say 
that  some  men  are  *  soulful,'  whatever  that  may  mean* 
The  man  of  science  does  not  admit  that  there  is  such 
a  thing,  his  explanation  of  consciousness  and  the  processes 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


183 

of  thought  and  memory  are  purely  physical,  but  we 
venture  to  submit  that  a  belief  in  the  scientific  theory  of 
consciousness  involves  a  degree  of  faith  in  materialism  as 
great  as,  if  not  greater  than,  that  exacted  by  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  a  faith  in  which  has  been  wittily  described  as  a 
belief  in  something  which  is  known  to  be  untrue* 

When  life  has  definitely  departed  from  the  human 
frame,  when  the  soul  has  left  the  body,  the  remaining 
corpse  rots  away  and  decomposes*  But  while  the  soul 
is  still  in  that  body  the  latter  continues  to  live,  to  perform 
functions,  to  replace  the  wasted  tissues,  and  to  be  an 
instrument  of  thought*  We  can  examine  that  remarkable 
machine,  take  it  to  pieces,  explain  the  mechanism  by 
means  of  which  the  eyes  are  able  to  see,  the  tongue  to 
speak,  the  ears  to  hear,  the  hands  to  grip  and  the  feet  to 
walk*  We  can  even  follow  the  digestive  and  assimilative 
processes  of  the  human  organism,  and  discover  how, 
all  unconsciously,  we  keep  our  machinery  going,  how  we 
digest  our  food,  how  the  body  is  irrigated  by  the  blood 
with  its  central  pumping  station,  the  heart*  We  know 
how  we  breathe,  and  how  the  oxygen  necessary  to  the 
system  is  inhaled  by  the  lungs*  We  even  know,  some¬ 
times,  how  to  make  our  hair  grow*  But  when  it  comes 
to  obtaining  an  intelligent  idea  of  the  user  of  all  this 
mechanism — the  human  soul — which  sees  through  its  eyes 
and  hears  by  its  ears,  and  communicates  what  it  has  seen 
and  heard  to  others  by  means  of  the  voice  and  the  tongue  ; 
when  we  ask  ourselves  what  this  ego  is  which  we  possess, 
and  which  is  capable  of  volition,  and  of  crimes  and  virtues, 
of  judgment  and  imagination,  which  operates  our  human 
machine,  and  is  yet  different  in  each  of  us,  even  in  the  case 
of  brothers  and  sisters  brought  up  under  the  same  roof, 
then  we  are  compelled  to  admit  with  Hamlet  that  there 
are  more  things  in  Heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamt  of 
in  our  philosophy* 

A  story  is  told  of  a  famous  man  who  believed  that  during 
cremation  the  soul  left  the  body  in  a  kind  of  vapour,  but 
was  disappointed  to  discover  his  error  on  attending  such 
a  ceremony,  and  ever  after  ceased  to  believe  in  the  soul* 
Doctors  have  been  known  to  declare  that  they  have  cut 


THE  SOUL 


183 

up  many  human  bodies  but  have  never  come  across  the 
seat  of  the  souL  This  is  rather  like  the  Frenchman  who 
was  commissioned  to  write  an  essay  on  the  hippopotamus, 
and  went  to  the  Jardin  d'acclimatation  where  there  did 
not  happen  to  exist  a  specimen  at  the  time,  and  conse¬ 
quently  concluded  that  there  was  no  such  animal* 

Prevalent  theological  ideas  about  the  soul  are  some¬ 
what  vague  and  contradictory.  Some  people  talk  about 
a  vapour,  some  about  an  aura,  but  it  is  all  rather  visionary, 
and  moreover  there  does  not  appear  to  exist  any  definite 
concrete  conception  of  what  the  soul  is,  and  yet  that 
there  must  be  a  soul  seems  too  obvious  to  doubt.  One 
consideration  alone  would  seem  to  establish  this.  The 
human  animal  would,  so  far  as  has  yet  been  ascertained, 
appear  to  be  the  only  one  capable  of  producing  anything 
partaking  of  the  nature  of  immortality.  It  has  left 
permanent  records  of  its  thoughts  and  deeds  in  the 
literature  and  art  of  the  world.  We  need  only  mention 
the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  antiquities,  the  pyramids, 
the  Vedas  of  the  East,  and  the  splendid  literature  of 
ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  Shakespeare's  plays  are  as 
much  alive  to-day  as  they  were  when  their  reputed  author 
was  managing  the  Globe  Theatre.  Then  there  are  the 
great  law-givers,  the  great  rulers,  the  generals,  the  dis¬ 
coverers  and  inventors  ;  of  most  of  these  it  can  be  said 
that  their  works  live  after  them.  Immortal  works  must 
be  the  product  of  an  immortal  soul. 

The  prevailing  ignorance  respecting  the  soul  is  thus 
commented  on  by  Swedenborg  : 

The  soul  is  unknown  as  to  its  every  quality,  especially  in 
the  learned  world.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  some 
believe  it  to  be  an  ethereal  principle,  some  a  sort  of  flame  of  fire, 
some  merely  the  thinking  principle,  some  the  vital  principle 
in  general,  some  the  natural,  active  principle.  And  what  still 
further  attests  their  ignorance  of  the  nature  of  the  soul,  they 
assign  it  to  various  places  in  the  body,  some  place  it  in  the  heart, 
some  in  the  brain  and  in  the  fibres  there,  some  in  the  corpora 
striata ,  others  in  the  ventricles,  and  others  in  the  exigua 
glandula  ;  some  in  every  part.  But  then  what  they  conceive 
is  a  vital  principle  and  this  is  common  to  every  living  thing. 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


184 

From  all  which  it  is  plain  that  nothing  is  known  about  th?  souh 
This  is  the  reason  why  all  that  has  been  offered  respecting  the 
soul  has  been  conjectural*  And  because  they  could  thus  form 
no  idea  of  the  souh  very  many  could  but  believe  that  it  is 
nothing  else  but  a  vital  something  which,  when  the  body  dies, 
is  dissipated.  Hence  it  is  then  that  the  learned  have  less  belief 
than  the  simple  in  a  life  after  death  ;  and  as  they  do  not  believe 
in  it,  neither  can  they  believe  in  the  things  relating  to  that  life, 
which  are  the  celestial  and  spiritual  things  of  faith  and  love. 
This  is  evident  also  from  the  Lord's  words  in  Matthew  :  *  Thou 
hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast 
revealed  them  unto  babes  '  (xi.  25)  ;  and  again,  *  Seeing  they 
see  not,  and  hearing  they  hear  not,  neither  do  they  understand ' 
(xiii.  13).  For  the  simple  have  no  such  thoughts  about  the 
soul  but  believe  that  they  will  live  after  death  ;  in  which  simple 
faith  is  concealed — although  they  are  not  aware  of  it— a  belief 
that  they  will  live  there  as  men  and  will  see  the  angels,  converse 
with  them,  and  enjoy  happiness. 

With  regard  to  the  seat  of  the  soul  above  referred  to, 
Swedenborg  tells  us  : 

It  should  be  known  that  man's  spirit  in  the  body  is  in  the 
whole  and  every  part  of  it ;  and  that  it  is  the  purer  substance 
of  it — as  well  in  its  organs  of  motion  as  of  sense,  and  every¬ 
where  else  ;  and  that  his  body  is  the  material  substance  every¬ 
where  annexed  to  it,  adapted  to  the  world  in  which  he  then 
is.  This  is  what  is  meant  by  saying  that  man  is  a  spirit  and  that 
the  body  but  serves  him  for  uses  in  the  world  ;  and  that  the 
spirit  is  the  internal  of  man,  and  the  body  his  external. 

In  our  first  chapter  in  which  we  treated  of  the  creation 
of  the  world,  we  showed  that  matter  was  dead  and  that 
it  was  spiritual  substance  which  was  alive,  for  the  spiritual 
sun  in  Heaven,  which  is  an  emanation  from  the  Lord,  is 
the  source  of  all  spiritual  substance;  we  saw  how  that 
spiritual  substance  gradually  cooled  off,  as  it  were,  and 
solidified  into  matter ;  thus  a  duality  is  formed,  a  spiritual 
world  within  a  material  universe.  From  this  material 
universe  there  is  returned  back  to  the  spiritual  world 
the  human  soul  propagated  on  the  material  plane  ;  and 
just  as  the  spiritual  world  is  within  the  material  universe, 
so  the  spiritual  substantial  soul  is  within  the  material 


THE  SOUL  185 

body,  only  it  is  in  the  whole  and  in  every  part,  and  is  the 
purer  substance  of  it* 

As  regards  the  soul  [says  Swedenborg],  of  which  it  is  said 
it  shall  live  after  death,  it  is  nothing  else  than  the  man  himself 
who  lives  in  the  body  ;  that  is  the  interior  man,  who  through 
the  body  acts  in  the  world,  and  who  animates  the  body*  This 
man,  when  freed  from  the  body,  is  called  a  spirit,  and  then 
appears  in  a  complete  human  form  ;  yet  he  is  invisible  to  the 
material  eye*  To  the  eye  of  the  spirit  he  is  however  visible 
and  appears  as  a  man  appears  in  the  world :  he  has  senses,  touch, 
smell,  hearing,  sight,  far  more  exquisite  than  those  of  his 
material  body  ;  moreover  he  has  appetites,  pleasures,  desires, 
affections,  loves,  such  as  he  had  in  the  material  world,  but  in  a 
surpassing  degree  ;  he  thinks  also,  as  he  did  in  the  world,  but 
more  efficiently  ;  he  converses  with  others  ;  in  a  word  ,  .  * 
unless  he  reflects  upon  the  fact  that  he  is  in  the  other  life,  he 
does  not  know  that  he  is  not  in  the  natural  world.  *  *  *  For  the 
life  after  death  is  a  continuation  of  the  life  in  the  world.  This 
then  is  the  soul  of  man  which  lives  after  death.  .  *  *  He 
appears  entirely  as  a  man  with  all  the  members  and  organs  with 
which  man  is  endowed,  and  is  in  truth  the  very  man  himself 
who  was  in  the  body.  That  this  is  so  indeed  is  evident  from  the 
angels  seen,  of  which  we  read  in  the  Word,  who  all  appeared 
in  human  form ;  for  all  the  angels  in  Heaven  are  in  human  form, 
because  the  Lord  is  in  that  form,  and  indeed  often  appeared 
as  a  man  after  His  resurrection. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  every  part  of  the 
human  organism,  as  indeed  everything  in  nature,  is 
symbolical  and  representative  of  spiritual  truths  and 
affections,  hence  it  becomes  obvious  that  the  human  soul 
or  spirit  would  possess  all  these  symbols  in  a  world  where 
their  meaning  is  patent  to  his  fellow  spirits  and  angels* 

In  *  The  True  Christian  Religion  '  we  are  told  that  the 
soul  is  the  inmost  and  highest  part  of  man  ;  and  into  this 
proceeds  direct  influx  from  God,  which  thence  descends 
into  the  subordinate  parts  and  vivifies  them  in  proportion 
to  reception*  Truths  of  faith  enter  by  ear  and  are 
implanted  in  the  mind,  but  these  truths  only  serve  to 
adjust  the  man  for  the  reception  of  Divine  influx  through 
the  soul* 

The  origin  of  the  soul,  Swedenborg  asserts,  is  from 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


1 86 

the  father,  and  this,  he  maintains,  no  wise  man  doubts* 
He  proceeds  to  demonstrate  that  this  is  plainly 

to  be  seen  from  the  minds,  and  also  from  the  faces,  which  are 
the  types  of  the  minds,  in  descendants  proceeding  in  regular 
line  from  the  fathers  of  families  ;  for  as  an  image  the  father 
returns,  if  not  in  his  sons  yet  in  his  grandsons  and  great- 
grandsons*  And  this  comes  from  the  cause,  that  the  soul  con¬ 
stitutes  the  inmost  of  man  ;  and  though  this  may  be  covered 
over  in  the  next  offspring  yet  it  comes  forth  and  reveals  itself 
in  the  descendants  afterwards*  That  the  soul  is  from  the  father, 
and  its  clothing  from  the  mother,  may  be  illustrated  by  analogies 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom*  Here  the  earth  or  ground  is  the 
common  mother* 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  the  problems  of  man¬ 
kind  is  the  relation  of  the  brain  and  the  senses*  The 
school  of  sensationalists  explains  that  the  eye  and  the 
ear  and  the  surface  nerves,  which  have  the  sense  of  touch, 
convey  the  sensations  they  receive  from  the  outside  to 
the  brain,  which  thus  becomes  in  a  measure  little  more 
than  a  passive  receiver  of  outside  impressions*  This 
theory,  of  course,  pre-supposed  the  non-existence  of  a 
soul,  and  attempted  to  account  for  consciousness  by 
chemical  and  mechanical  hypotheses*  Swedenborg  puts 
the  views  of  this  school  of  thought  in  inimitable  language* 
Speaking  of  the  various  current  opinions  and  theories 
explanatory  of  the  intercourse  between  the  body  and  the 
soul,  he  says  : 

The  first,  which  is  called  physical  influx,  is  from  appearances 
of  the  senses,  and  the  fallacies  arising  out  of  them  ;  because  it 
appears  as  if  the  objects  of  sight  which  affect  the  eyes  flow  into 
thought,  and  produce  it ;  in  like  manner  as  if  speech,  which 
affects  the  ears,  flows  into  the  mind  and  there  produces  ideas* 
And  so  with  the  smell,  the  taste,  and  the  touch*  As  the  organs 
of  these  senses  first  receive  the  impressions  flowing  to  them  from 
the  world,  and  according  to  the  affections  of  them  the  mind 
appears  to  think  and  also  to  will,  therefore  ancient  philosophers 
and  schoolmen  supposed  influx  to  be  derived  from  them  into 
the  soul,  and  so  adopted  the  hypothesis  of  physical  or  natural 
influx. 

This  must  be  admitted  to  be  a  fair  statement  of  the 


THE  SOUL 


187 

sensationalist  standpoint*  How  unsatisfactory  that  is,  it 
is  perhaps  a  waste  of  time  to  indicate*  While  it  may 
affect  to  account  for  sight,  hearing,  and  touch,  it  does 
not  explain  speech  and  motion,  which  are  directly  voli¬ 
tional  acts,  and  cannot  be  explained,  however  unsatis¬ 
factorily,  by  a  purely  sensational  hypothesis*  Without 
dwelling  on  the  other  hypotheses  current  to-day,  let  us 
plunge  at  once  into  the  very  lucid,  rational,  and  compre¬ 
hensive  teaching  of  Swedenborg  on  this  subject* 

To  begin  with,  then,  all  life  is  from  God,  or  rather 
there  is  but  one  only  life,  which  is  that  of  the  Lord, 
which  flows  into  man  and  imparts  life  to  him  also — indeed, 
the  evil  as  well  as  the  good  have  life  from  this  the  only 
source.  Life  flows  into  man  from  God  through  the 
soul,  and  thence  into  his  mind,  consequently  into  his 
affections  and  thoughts,  and  from  these  into  the  senses, 
speech,  and  actions  of  the  body ;  because  these  are  in 
successive  order*  For  the  mind  is  subordinate  to  the 
soul,  and  the  body  is  subordinate  to  the  mind*  Now, 
the  mind  has  two  distinct  vital  principles,  or  vitalities — 
one  of  the  will,  and  the  other  of  the  understanding.  The 
life  of  the  will  is  the  good  of  love,  the  derivations  of 
which  are  the  affections*  The  life  of  the  understanding 
is  the  truth  of  wisdom,  the  derivations  of  which  are 
thoughts.  Through  both  of  these  the  mind  lives*  The 
senses,  speech,  and  actions  are  the  life  or  vitality  of  the 
body,  these  are  vivified  by  the  soul  through  the  mind, 
this  indeed  follows  from  the  order  in  which  they  are. 
The  human  soul,  being  a  higher  spiritual  substance, 
receives  influx  immediately  from  God  ;  and  the  human 
mind,  being  a  lower  spiritual  substance,  receives  influx 
mediately  from  God  through  the  spiritual  world.  The 
body,  being  composed  of  material  substances,  receives 
influx  from  God  mediately  through  the  natural  world. 

There  is  Divine  influx  into  the  will,  and  there  is  also 
Divine  influx  into  the  understanding ;  the  will  is  the 
receptacle  of  the  good  of  love,  and  the  understanding  of 
the  truth  of  wisdom,  each  immediately  from  God  through 
the  spiritual  sun  in  which  He  is,  and  mediately  through 
the  angelic  heaven*  These  two  receptacles — the  will  and 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


1 88 

the  understanding — are  as  distinct  as  heat  and  light. 
There  is  an  influx  from  the  human  mind  into  speech 
and  action,  the  first  from  the  will,  through  the  under¬ 
standing,  the  second  from  the  understanding  through 
the  will.  However,  it  is  the  will  rather  than  the  under¬ 
standing  which  colours  the  character  of  the  man,  for 
as  the  quality  of  his  love  is,  such  is  his  wisdom,  and 
consequently  the  man  is  as  his  love  is.  The  under¬ 
standing  can,  indeed,  be  elevated  far  above  the  will  in 
the  light  of  Heaven,  for  there  is  given  to  man  the  ability 
to  lift  the  intellectual  side  of  his  mind  into  this  light  in 
order  that  he  may  see  how  to  direct  his  conduct,  so  as 
to  achieve  happiness  on  earth  and  blessedness  in  Heaven, 
for  God  does  not  wish  man  to  be  miserable  in  either 
life,  nor  is  the  quest  of  worldly  prosperity  harmful,  pro¬ 
vided  it  is  sought  not  for  itself,  but  for  its  uses,  as  a  means 
to  perfect  ourselves  and  benefit  others.  Man  becomes 
prosperous  and  blessed  by  acquiring  wisdom  and  keeping 
his  will  obedient  to  it,  but  when  he  allows  his  will  to 
rule  his  reason  the  reverse  ensues — he  becomes  unpros- 
perous  and  unhappy.  This  is  because  man  from  his 
birth,  and  from  heredity,  is  prone  to  evil,  and  even  to 
enormous  evils,  as  is  indeed  convincingly  illustrated  in 
the  novels  of  Balzac  and  Zola.  Unless  man  curbs  his 
will  by  means  of  reason,  he  is  capable  of  committing 
every  conceivable  wickedness,  and  even  of  destroying 
those  who  oppose  him,  or  will  not  give  way  to  him,  or 
who  merely  do  not  share  his  views.  Besides,  unless  the 
understanding  could  be  separately  perfected,  and  by 
acting  on  the  will,  perfect  the  latter,  a  man  would  be 
nothing  more  than  a  wild  beast.  Well  has  the  Russian 
writer,  Karamzin,  said  :  *  Reason  was  given  to  man  for 
the  control  of  his  passions/ 

Man  having  acquired  by  heredity  a  disposition  to 
evil,  he  is  born  an  animal,  and  is  gradually  developed 
into  a  man  through  the  operation  of  the  understanding 
on  the  will ;  this,  of  course,  is  only  true  of  the  regenerate. 

If  man  [says  Swedenborg]  were  in  the  order  into  which  he 
was  created,  that  is  in  love  towards  the  neighbour  and  love 
towards  the  Lord — for  these  loves  are  proper  to  man — he  above 


THE  SOUL 


189 

all  animals  would  be  born  not  only  into  knowledges,  but  also 
into  all  spiritual  truths  and  celestial  goods,  and  thus  into  all 
wisdom  and  intelligence.  For  he  is  capable  of  thinking  about 
the  Lord,  and  of  being  conjoined  to  Him  by  love  ;  and  so  of 
being  elevated  to  what  is  Divine  and  eternal,  ,  ,  ,  Thus  man 
would  then  be  governed  by  no  other  than  the  general  influx 
from  the  Lord  through  the  spiritual  world.  But  because  he  is 
not  born  into  order  but  in  a  state  of  opposition  to  his  order, 
therefore  he  is  born  into  ignorance  of  all  things  ;  and  because 
this  is  the  case,  it  is  provided  that  he  may  afterwards  be  re-born, 
and  thus  come  into  so  much  of  intelligence  and  wisdom  as  from 
freedom  he  may  have  received  of  good,  and  by  good  of  truth. 

This  is  a  convenient  place  for  giving  some  account 
of  Swedenborg's  teachings  regarding  the  thoughts  and 
affections  and  the  organic  substances  of  the  mind.  In 
his  *  Divine  Providence  *  he  tells  us  : 

Affections,  which  are  of  the  will,  are  mere  changes  of  state 
of  the  purely  organic  substances  of  the  mind  ;  and  thoughts 
which  are  of  the  understanding,  are  mere  changes  and  varia¬ 
tions  of  their  form  ;  and  the  memory  is  the  permanent  state 
of  these  changes  and  variations.  Who  does  not  assent  when 
it  is  said  that  there  are  no  affections  and  thoughts  except  in 
substances  and  their  forms,  which  are  subjects  i  And  as  they 
exist  in  the  brains,  which  are  full  of  substances  and  forms, 
they  are  called  purely  organic  forms. 

He  then  points  out  how  irrational  it  is  to  suppose  that 
affections  and  thoughts  are  not  in  substantial  subjects, 
but  exhalations  modified  by  heat  and  light,  like  images 
in  the  air  and  ether,  seeing  that  there  can  be  no  thought 
apart  from  a  substantial  form  any  more  than  there  can  be 
sight  apart  from  its  form — the  eye,  or  hearing  apart  from 
the  ear,  etc. 

Examine  the  brain  [he  adds]  and  you  will  see  innumerable 
substances,  and  likewise  fibres,  and  that  there  is  nothing  there 
that  is  not  organised.  What  need  is  there  of  other  than  this 
ocular  confirmation  .  .  .  {  What  is  affection  then,  and  what 
is  thought  i  This  may  be  inferred  from  all  and  every  one  of 
the  things  that  are  in  the  body.  There  are  many  viscera  there, 
each  fixed  in  its  place,  and  they  perform  their  functions  by 
changes  and  variations  of  state  and  form.  That  they  are  in  the 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


190 

performance  of  their  functions  is  known  ;  the  stomach  in  its 
function  ;  the  intestines  in  theirs  ;  the  kidneys  in  theirs  ;  the 
liver,  pancreas  and  spleen  in  theirs  ;  and  the  heart  and  lungs 
in  theirs.  All  these  operations  are  set  in  motion  only  from 
within  ;  and  to  be  moved  from  within  is  to  be  moved  by  changes 
and  variations  of  state  and  form.  It  is  therefore  evident  that 
the  operations  of  the  purely  organic  substances  of  the  mind  are 
nothing  else  ;  with  the  difference  that  the  operations  of  the 
organic  substances  of  the  body  are  natural,  while  those  of  the 
mind  are  spiritual ;  and  that  by  correspondences  these  and 
those  make  one.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  changes  and  varia¬ 
tions  of  state  and  form  of  the  organic  substances  of  the  mind, 
which  are  affections  and  thoughts,  cannot  be  shown  to  the  eye  ; 
but  yet  they  may  be  seen  as  in  a  mirror  from  the  changes  and 
variations  of  state  of  the  lungs  in  speaking  and  singing.  There 
is  in  fact  a  correspondence  ;  for  the  tone  in  speaking  and  singing 
and  also  the  articulations  of  sound,  which  are  the  words  of 
speech  and  the  modulations  of  song,  are  made  by  the  lungs  ; 
but  the  tone  corresponds  to  an  affection,  and  the  speech  to 
thought.  They  are  in  truth  produced  from  them — and  this 
is  done  by  changes  and  variations  of  the  state  and  form  of  the 
organic  substances  in  the  lungs  ;  and  from  the  lungs,  through 
the  trachea  or  arteria  aspera  in  the  larynx  and  glottis  ;  and  then 
in  the  tongue  ;  and  finally  in  the  lips.  The  first  changes  and 
variations  of  the  state  and  form  of  sound  are  made  in  the  lungs  ; 
the  second  in  the  trachea  and  larynx ;  the  third  in  the  glottis, 
by  the  manifold  openings  of  its  orifice  ;  the  fourth  in  the  tongue, 
by  its  manifold  applications  to  the  palate  and  teeth  ;  the  fifth 
in  the  lips  by  their  manifold  forms.  From  these  things  it  is 
evident  that  mere  changes  and  variations  of  state  of  organic 
forms,  continued  successively,  produce  the  sounds  and  the 
articulations  of  them  which  are  speech  and  song.  Now  as 
sound  and  speech  are  produced  from  no  other  source  than  from 
affections  and  thoughts  of  the  mind — for  they  come  from  these 
...  it  is  plain  that  affections  of  the  will  are  changes  and  varia¬ 
tions  of  state  of  the  purely  organic  substances  of  the  mind  ;  and 
that  thoughts  of  the  understanding  are  changes  and  variations 
of  the  form  of  those  substances — in  like  manner  as  in  the  lungs. 
Since  affections  and  thoughts  are  mere  changes  of  state  of  the 
forms  of  the  mind,  it  follows  that  the  memory  is  .  .  .  their 
permanent  state  ;  for  all  changes  and  variations  of  state  in 
organic  substances  are  such,  that  being  once  habitual  they 
become  permanent.  Thus  the  lungs  are  accustomed  to  produce 
various  sounds  in  the  trachea,  and  to  vary  them  in  the  glottis, 


THE  SOUL 


191 


to  articulate  them  with  the  tongue,  and  modify  them  by  the 
mouth  ;  and  when  these  organic  changes  have  become  neces¬ 
sary  the  sounds  are  in  the  organs  and  can  be  reproduced. 
These  changes  and  variations  are  infinitely  more  perfect  in  the 
organic  substances  of  the  mind  than  in  those  of  the  body. 

Modern  psychologists  have  recently,  or  comparatively 
recently,  discovered  that  man  has  a  subconscious  self, 
but  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago  Swedenborg  stated  in 
his  *  Intercourse  between  the  Soul  and  the  Body  '  that 
man  possessed  voluntary  and  involuntary,  or  automatic, 
activities.  To  prevent  misunderstanding  it  is  best  to 
quote  the  whole  of  the  passage  in  which  this  statement 
occurs ;  he  is  speaking  of  goodness,  and  says  : 

As  regards  every  good  that  constitutes  heavenly  life,  and 
so  eternal  life,  with  men  and  with  angels,  the  case  is  this  :  The 
inmost  of  good  is  the  Lord  Himself,  even  the  good  of  love, 
which  is  immediately  from  Him.  The  next  succeeding  good 
is  the  good  of  mutual  love  ;  then  follows  the  good  of  charity 
towards  the  neighbour  ;  and  lastly  the  good  of  faith.  .  .  .  From 
this  it  may  be  seen  how  matters  stand  with  regard  to  immediate 
and  mediate  influx.  In  general,  in  the  degree  only  in  which  a 
good,  successive  in  order — that  is  to  say,  an  exterior  good — has 
the  higher  interior  good  within  it,  is  it  a  real  good  ;  for  it  is 
in  that  degree  that  it  is  nearer  to  the  Lord  Himself,  the  inmost 
of  all  good.  But  the  successive  co-ordination  and  arrangement 
of  interior  goods  in  the  exterior  varies  in  each  and  every  subject 
according  to  reception,  which  varies  with  and  is  dependent 
on  the  spiritual  and  moral  life  of  each  individual  recipient  in 
the  material  or  natural  world.  For  the  life  led  in  the  world 
remains  with  every  individual  to  eternity.  The  influx  of  the 
Lord  is  also  immediate  with  every  individual,  for  the  mediate 
influx  would  be  of  no  effect  without  it.  Immediate  influx  is 
received  according  to  the  order  in  which  the  individual, 
whether  man  or  angel,  may  be  ;  thus  according  to  the  Divine 
truth  which  is  from  the  Divine,  for  this  is  order.  It  is  order 
itself  therefore  for  man  that  he  should  live  in  the  good  which  is 
from  the  Lord ;  that  is  to  say,  that  he  should  live  from  the  Lord. 
This  immediate  influx  is  continual,  and  is  in  relation  with  every 
one  and  all  the  things  of  man's  will,  and  directs  them  in  order 
as  far  as  possible,  for  man's  will  continually  strives  in  the 
opposite  direction.  It  is  as  with  things  voluntary  and  involun¬ 
tary  (or  automatic)  in  man.  His  voluntary  actions  continually 


192 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


lead  away  from  order ;  but  the  involuntary  (or  automatic) 
acts  continually  revert  to  order*  Hence  it  is  that  the  action 
of  the  hearty  which  is  involuntary,  is  entirely  outside  the  control 
of  the  will ;  in  the  same  way  also  the  action  of  the  cerebellum  ; 
and  this  is  why  the  action  of  the  heart  and  the  powers  of  the 
cerebellum  govern  the  voluntary  acts,  so  that  these  may  be 
curbed  in  their  imperiousness  and  prevented  from  rushing 
beyond  bounds,  and  thus  jeopardising  the  life  of  the  body 
before  its  time*  For  this  reason  the  activities  of  both  the 
voluntary  and  involuntary  principles  in  the  body  proceed  in 
conjunction* 

According  to  order,  the  celestial  flows  into  the  spiritual 
and  adapts  it  to  itself,  and  the  spiritual  flows  into  the  reason 
and  adapts  it  to  itself,  and  the  reason  or  rational  into 
knowledge  in  the  same  way*  Though  there  is  a  similar  order 
while  man  is  being  instructed  in  earliest  childhood,  this 
does  not  seem  to  be  the  case,  for  it  appears  that  progress 
is  from  knowledge  to  reason,  from  things  known  to  things 
rational,  from  these  to  things  spiritual,  and  finally  to 
things  celestial*  That  this  seems  to  be  the  order  is  because 
the  way  must  be  opened  to  things  celestial,  which  are 
the  inmost*  All  instruction  is  but  an  opening  of  the 
way ;  and  as  the  way  is  opened,  or  as  the  receptacles  are 
opened,  there  flows  in,  according  to  order,  from  the 
celestial-spiritual,  things  rational ;  within  them  are 
things  celestial-spiritual,  and  within  these,  things  celestial* 
These  are  continually  pouring  forth  and  also  preparing 
for  themselves,  and  forming,  receptacles  which  are  opened* 
This  will  appear  from  the  consideration  that  knowledge 
and  reason  are  faculties  which  have  this  appearance  from 
the  interior  life  which  flows  in*  Take,  for  instance, 
thought  and  judgment*  In  these  lie  concealed  all  the 
secrets  of  art  and  of  analytical  science,  which  are  so 
numerous  that  they  cannot  possibly  be  explored ;  all 
the  thought  and  all  the  speech,  not  only  of  adults  but  also 
of  children,  are  full  of  them,  although  even  the  most 
learned  are  unaware  of  it ;  and  this  could  never  be  if 
the  celestial  and  spiritual  things  within  were  not  pouring 
in  and  producing  all  these  results* 

The  above  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  Sweden- 


THE  SOUL 


193 


borg's  teaching  regarding  the  soul  and  its  organic  structure* 
This  soul,  being  a  substance,  though  not  material  but 
spiritual,  is  therefore  indestructible*  This  we  know  to 
be  a  fact  in  the  case  of  matter,  and  if  matter  is  indestructible 
it  follows  that  spiritual  substance,  which  is  of  a  higher 
order,  must  also  be  indestructible*  The  body  does  not 
die,  it  decomposes,  the  soul  lives  on*  But  how  i  In 
healthy,  normal  and  consequently  happy  surroundings  i 
Or  does  it  assume  noxious  morbid  qualities  i  In  the 
latter  case  it  must  putrefy  and  become  abnormal,  it  cannot 
die,  but  it  can  become  fetid  and  moribund,  evil  and 
malevolent*  The  future  fate  of  our  immortal  soul  is 
not  only  of  supreme  importance  to  every  individual, 
it  is  of  importance  to  the  universe  ;  if  our  soul  becomes 
in  after  life  a  malevolent  spirit,  it  will  add  to  the  sum  of 
the  already  existing  forces  of  evil*  Therefore  from  the 
purely  humanitarian  point  of  view,  from  what  may  be 
called  the  Comtist  point  of  view,  it  is  incumbent  on  us 
to  do  all  that  in  us  lies  to  save  our  souls* 

What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  i  To  this  question 
Swedenborg  gives  a  full  and  exhaustive  answer  in  his 
*  Heaven  and  Hell/ 

Some  people  imagine  1  [he  says]  that  it  is  difficult  to  live 
the  life  which  leads  to  Heaven,  which  is  called  spiritual  life, 
because  they  have  been  told  that  they  must  renounce  the  world 
and  put  aside  what  are  called  the  concupiscences  of  the  body 
and  the  flesh,  and  live  in  the  spirit,  and  they  believe  this  to 
mean  that  they  must  reject  the  world  with  its  riches  and 
honours,  and  lead  a  life  of  pious  meditation  upon  God,  salva¬ 
tion  and  eternal  life  ;  and  spend  their  time  in  religious  exercises* 
This,  however,  Swedenborg  maintains  to  be  a  mistaken  idea. 
On  the  contrary,  in  order  to  receive  the  life  of  heaven,  it  is 
necessary  that  man  should  live  in  the  world  and  engage  in 
business  and  perform  his  duties,  for  spiritual  life  can  only  be 
received  through  civil  and  moral  life*  To  lead  an  internal  life 
secluded  from  the  world  unfits  a  man  for  Heaven.  Man's  life 
should  be  threefold,  it  should  be  spiritual,  moral  and  civil,  yet 
all  three  phases  are  distinct,  for  people  have  been  known  to  live 
good  civil  lives,  and  even  good  moral  lives,  without  leading 
spiritual  lives.  Spiritual  life  is  within  natural  life,  as  the  soul 

1  For  purposes  of  brevity  this  passage  has  been  paraphrased. 

o 


194 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


is  within  the  body,  and  moral  and  civil  lives  are  the  activities 
or  manifestations  of  spiritual  life.  Most  people  lead  good 
civil  and  moral  lives,  the  wicked  as  well  as  the  good,  for  every¬ 
body  wants  to  appear  just  and  sincere  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
With  the  spiritual  man,  however,  the  motive  is  different,  and 
he  acts  sincerely  and  justly  because  this  is  agreeable  to  the 
Divine  laws.  Indeed  in  all  his  conduct  the  spiritual  man  has 
regard  to  the  Divine  laws,  and  in  proportion  as  he  does  so 
he  is  in  communion  with  angels,  his  internal  or  spiritual  nature 
is  opened  and  he  is  adopted  and  unconsciously  led  by  the  Lord, 
When  anything  presents  itself  to  man  which  he  knows  to  be 
insincere  and  unjust,  but  which  he  is  inclined  to  do,  nothing 
more  is  necessary  than  that  he  should  reflect  that  it  ought  not 
to  be  done  because  it  is  contrary  to  the  Divine  commandments. 
If  he  accustoms  himself  to  think  so,  and  acquires  a  habit  from 
that  custom  he  is  then  gradually  conjoined  to  Heaven  ;  but  in 
proportion  as  he  is  conjoined  to  Heaven  the  higher  principles 
of  his  mind  are  opened,  and  in  proportion  as  they  are  opened 
he  is  able  to  discern  insincerity  and  injustice  ;  and  in  pro¬ 
portion  as  he  sees  them,  they  are  capable  of  being  removed, 
for  it  is  impossible  that  any  evil  can  be  removed  until  it  is 
seen,  *  This  is  a  state  into  which  a  man  may  enter  in  perfect 
freedom,  for  who  cannot  think  in  perfect  freedom  in  this 
manner  i  But  when  he  has  thus  made  a  beginning,  the  Lord 
operates  within  him  to  produce  every  variety  of  goodness,  and 
enables  him  not  only  to  see,  but  to  reject  evils  from  his  will, 
and,  finally  to  hold  them  in  aversion.  This  is  what  is  meant 
by  the  Lord's  words  :  “  My  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is 
light  ''  (Matthew  xi,  30)  but  the  difficulty  in  thinking  in  this 
way  and  of  resisting  evils  increases  in  proportion  as  a  man 
commits  evils  voluntarily,  for  he  then  proportionately  accustoms 
himself  to  them,  until  he  ceases  to  see  them,  and  even  loves 
them,  excuses  them,  and  finally  regards  them  as  permissible 
and  good.  This  is  the  case  with  those  who,  at  mature  age, 
plunge  into  evils  without  restraint,  and  at  the  same  time  reject 
Divine  things  from  the  heart.' 

4  The  way,'  says  Swedenborg,  4  which  leads  to  life 
is  narrow ,  not  because  it  is  difficult,  but  because  there  are 
few  who  find  it.' 

Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  even  those  who  have 
not  found  it  in  this  world  cannot  be  made  fit  for  Heaven. 
The  ways  of  Providence  are  inscrutable,  but  Swedenborg 


THE  SOUL 


195 


assures  us  that  those  who  have  a  vestige  of  a  conscience 
are  saved.  Moreover  errors  of  belief  and  faith  are  not 
condemnatory.  How  the  reformation  of  these  unpre¬ 
pared  spirits  is  effected  in  the  spiritual  world  we  shall  see 
in  the  next  chapter. 

It  suffices  for  the  present  to  say  one  word  on  the  subject 
of  regeneration.  As  we  have  seen,  man  is  born  into  this 
world  with  evil  tendencies  hereditarily  acquired,  just  as 
he  is  born  with  hereditary  physical  taints  and  tendencies, 
such  as  gout  and  tuberculosis  for  instance.  These  have 
to  be  eradicated.  We  have  seen  that  this  is  effected  almost 
unconsciously,  but  man  must  be  willing,  he  must  desire 
to  reform,  and  he  must  therefore  remove  the  evils  of  his 
nature,  as  they  come  forth  and  manifest  themselves,  of 
his  own  free  will.  He  is  all  unconscious  (and  must  be  so 
or  he  would  cease  to  be  a  free  agent)  that  God  is  working 
for  him,  stimulating  him  to  reject  his  evils,  and  fighting 
them  for  him.  But  there  comes  a  time  when  the  man 
becomes  divided  against  himself,  when  his  old  and  un¬ 
regenerate  carnal  will  rebels  against  the  new  spiritual 
will  that  has  been  almost  imperceptibly  engrafted  in 
him,  a  combat  ensues,  and  this  is  what  is  meant  by 
temptation.  In  these  temptations  it  is  God  who  fights 
for  us,  for  we  ourselves  would  be  impotent,  indeed  only 
too  often  do  we  give  up  the  combat  and  declare  ourselves 
beaten,  as  in  appearance  we  have  been,  when  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  a  great  victory  has  been  won  for  us,  and,  although 
we  may  think  that  our  case  is  hopeless,  we  find  to  our 
surprise  very  often,  after  a  little  while,  that  it  was  the  enemy, 
and  not  we,  who  was  defeated. 

But  let  a  man  beware  of  ascribing  merit  to  himself. 
If  he,  from  self-derived  prudence,  persuades  himself  and 
confirms  himself  in  the  idea  that  every  good  and  truth 
he  may  manifest  is  in  and  from  himself,  he  is  in  the  state 
typified  by  Adam  and  Eve  after  they  had  succumbed  to 
the  wiles  of  the  serpent,  and  had  eaten  of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  Such  a  man  ends  by  re¬ 
jecting  God,  and  by  attributing  everything  to  nature  and 
human  prudence,  and  finally  will  ascribe  to  himself  every 
evil  and  falsity.  If  a  man  would  but  believe,  what  is 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


196 

indeed  the  case,  that  everything  of  goodness  and  truth 
that  he  may  appear  to  possess  is  from  the  Lord,  and  that 
everything  evil  and  false  was  from  hell,  he  would  neither 
appropriate  to  himself  good  and  make  it  meritorious,  nor 
would  he  appropriate  to  himself  evil  and  make  himself 
guilty  of  it. 

We  have  seen  that  there  is  a  constant  influx  from  the 
Lord  into  man  of  goodness,  and  of  truth  into  that  good¬ 
ness,  man  either  receives  it,  or  closes  the  door  to  it.  It 
is  ill  with  him  if  he  does  not  obey  the  injunction  conveyed 
in  the  twenty-fourth  Psalm,  *  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye 
gates  ;  and  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors  ;  and  the 
King  of  glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  i 
The  Lord  strong  and  mighty,  the  Lord  mighty  in  battle/ 

However  if  when  he  refuses  to  admit  the  Lord,  who 
stands  at  the  door  and  knocks,  he  experiences  a  sensation 
of  anxiety  there  is  hope  that  he  may  be  reformed  ;  but  if 
he  has  no  such  anxiety,  the  hope  vanishes.  With  every 
man  there  are  two  spirits  from  hell,  and  two  angels  from 
Heaven ;  because,  man  being  born  in  evil  could  not  live 
unless  he  communicated  on  the  one  hand  with  hell  and 
on  the  other  with  Heaven,  between  which  he  is  kept  while 
on  earth  in  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium.  If,  when  in 
full  maturity  he  inclines  to  evils,  he  swings  himself  towards 
the  two  infernal  spirits,  and  they  approach,  but  should 
he  turn  himself  towards  good  he  comes  in  closer  proximity 
to  the  two  angels  from  Heaven  and  the  infernal  spirits 
from  hell  are  removed.  Consequently  when  a  man 
betakes  himself  to  evils,  as  is  the  case  with  most  in  youth, 
if,  when  he  reflects  upon  his  wrong  doing,  he  experiences 
any  anxiety  or  qualms  of  conscience,  that  is  a  sign  that  he 
will  still  receive  influx  through  the  angels  from  Heaven 
and  that  he  will  suffer  himself  to  be  reformed  ;  but  if  he 
should  have  no  such  feelings  it  is  a  sign  to  the  contrary. 

As  a  man  becomes  more  closely  conjoined  to  the  Lord 
he  becomes  wiser  and  happier,  and  appears  to  himself 
freer  and  perceives  more  clearly  that  he  is  the  Lord's, 


CHAPTER  XI 
The  Hereafter 

If  we  have  an  immortal  soul,  and  many  men  of  science 
are  beginning  to  believe  that  we  have,  and  are  adducing 
scientific  proofs  of  its  existence,  it  follows  that  that  soul 
cannot  die.  After  the  decease  of  the  body  the  immortal 
soul  must  survive,  indeed  many  credible  witnesses,  men 
of  education  and  learning  amongst  them,  claim  to  have 
held  communication  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed. 
What  does  the  spirit  do  after  it  has  left  the  body  i  How  and 
in  what  conditions  does  it  live  i  What  are  its  occupations  { 
Is  it  happy  or  miserable  i  And  if  either,  in  what  does 
the  happiness  and  misery  consist  i  These  are  questions 
which  can  only  be  answered  by  those  who  have  actually 
heard  and  seen  how  departed  spirits  live,  and  this  Sweden¬ 
borg  claims  to  have  done.  Before  proceeding  to  give 
his  answers  to  the  above  questions,  and  to  examine  their 
probable  accuracy,  let  us  first  consider  what  our  own 
preconceived  ideas  on  this  subject  are. 

As  children  we  are  generally  taught  that  after  death 
good  people  go  to  Heaven  and  bad  people  to  hell,  that 
Heaven  is  a  place  where  angels  are  assembled  round  the 
throne  of  God  in  praise  of  whom  they  sing  without 
ceasing,  accompanying  their  vocal  outpourings  on  harps. 
It  is  a  very  pretty  idea,  but  it  strikes  even  a  child  as  rather 
a  monotonous  way  of  spending  eternity.  Both  the 
Scandinavian  Valhalla  and  the  Mahomedan  Paradise 
would  be  more  attractive  to  the  carnally  minded.  How¬ 
ever,  it  is  certainly  preferable  to  the  fate  predicted  for 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


198 

the  wicked  who,  we  are  told,  will  be  kept  perpetually 
burning  in  hell-fire* 

Absurd  as  this  idea  of  the  next  world  may  seem, 
there  is  yet  a  certain  quantum  of  spiritual  truth  hidden 
within  it.  In  Heaven  we  shall  certainly  be  in  a  perpetual 
state  of  thankfulness  and  praise  to  God,  and  our  hearts 
will  be  continually  glad  with  song.  Those  of  us  who 
encounter  another  fate  will  be  burning  with  passions  and 
desires,  the  lusts  of  our  infernal  loves. 

Let  us  for  one  moment  consider  Swedenborg's  teach¬ 
ing  concerning  matter  and  substance.  Nature,  he  tells 
us,  is  cold  and  dead.  We  may,  perhaps,  by  way  of 
illustration,  describe  it  as  a  sort  of  waste  product,  a 
refuse,  into  which  life  is  re-introduced  in  order  that 
human  souls  may  be  propagated  in  this  world  with  the 
object  of  attaining  eternal  blessedness.  The  real  world, 
the  world  of  life,  is  the  spiritual  world,  and  the  spiritual 
substance,  of  which  the  spiritual  sun,  which  is  a  direct 
emanation  from  the  Lord,  is  the  source,  is  true  substance. 
Hence  it  follows  that  life  in  the  spiritual  world  must  be 
much  more  intense,  much  more  vital,  if  such  tautology 
may  be  pardoned,  much  more  real  than  anything  we  can 
conceive. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  give,  in  a  condensed  and 
popular  form,  the  gist  of  what  Swedenborg  has  to  say 
about  the  future  state.  For  a  full  and  complete  study 
of  the  subject  we  refer  the  reader  to  *  Heaven  and  Hell/ 
published  in  various  editions  by  the  Swedenborg  Society 
and  also  in  Dent's  *  Everyman's  Library,' 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  what  happens  at  death  i 

*  When  the  body  is  no  longer  able  to  perform  its  natural 
functions,  corresponding  to  the  thoughts  and  affections 
of  its  spirit,  derived  from  the  spiritual  world,  man  is 
said  to  die  ' — this  follows  the  cessation  of  the  action  of 
the  lungs  and  the  heart,  but  when  man  dies  he  only  passes 
from  one  world  into  another,  *  The  inmost  communi¬ 
cation  between  the  spirit  and  the  body  is  in  respiration 
and  heart  action  ;  for  thought  communicates  with  the 
former,  and  affection,  which  is  love,  with  the  heart ' 
(the  heart  corresponds  to  the  will).  The  separation  of 


THE  HEREAFTER 


199 


the  spirit  from  the  body  follows  instantly  on  the  cessation 
of  these  two  activities,  whereupon  the  body  grows 
cold  and  putrefies.  But  the  spirit  remains  in  the  body 
until  the  heart  has  completely  stopped  beating.  As 
soon  as  it  stops  man  is  resuscitated,  but  this  is  effected 
by  the  Lord  alone.  Resuscitation  is  the  withdrawal  of 
the  spirit  from  the  body  and  its  introduction  into  the 
spiritual  world,  and  is  commonly  called  resurrection. 
Communication  as  to  the  pulse  of  the  heart  is  now 
opened  with  the  celestial  kingdom,  because  this  corre¬ 
sponds  with  the  heart.  Angels  from  that  kingdom  then 
approach,  and  two  are  near  the  head.  All  affection 
proper  to  the  man  is  thus  removed,  but  thought  and 
perception  remain.  After  some  hours  the  spirits  with¬ 
draw,  and  an  aromatic  odour  as  of  a  body  embalmed  is 
sensible.  When  spirits  notice  this  odour  they  cannot 
approach,  and  thus  evil  spirits  are  also  kept  away  when  a 
man  is  first  introduced  into  eternal  life.  The  angels 
who  sit  near  the  head  are  silent,  but  communicate  their 
thoughts,  and  when  such  thoughts  are  received  by  the 
man,  they  know  that  he  is  in  a  fit  state  to  be  entirely 
separated  from  the  body.  The  spirit  of  man  is  held  in 
the  state  of  thought  in  which  he  was  at  the  time  of  death, 
until  he  returns  to  the  thoughts  which  flow  from  the 
general  affection  or  ruling  passion  which  was  his  in  the 
world.  There  is  a  drawing,  and,  as  it  were,  a  pulling  of 
the  interiors  of  the  mind  from  the  body,  and  this  proceeds 
from  the  Lord,  and  is  the  means  by  which  resurrection 
is  effected. 

The  celestial  angels  in  attendance  do  not  leave  the 
man,  because  they  love  all  men,  but  if  he  is  of  a  quality 
which  prevents  him  from  remaining  with  celestial  angels, 
he  wishes  to  leave  them,  and  angels  from  the  Lord's 
spiritual  kingdom  approach  and  give  him  light,  for  as 
yet  he  can  only  think,  but  sees  nothing.  After  describing 
how  this  is  done,  by  unrolling  the  coating  of  the  left  eye, 
Swedenborg  says  that  a  sensation  is  produced  as  though 
something  was  being  gently  unrolled  from  the  face  :  this 
is  succeeded  by  a  state  of  spiritual  thought.  The  angels 
now  tell  the  man  that  he  is  a  spirit ;  they  render  him 


200 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


all  the  kind  offices  which  he  can  possibly  desire,  and 
instruct  him  concerning  the  things  of  the  spiritual  life, 
so  far  as  he  can  understand  them  ;  but  if  he  does  not  care 
to  be  instructed  he  wishes  to  leave  them*  The  angels 
do  not  leave  him,  but  it  is  he  who  dissociates  himself 
from  them*  He  is  then  received  by  good  spirits,  who 
also  render  him  kind  offices  whilst  he  remains  with  them* 
But  if  his  life  in  the  world  has  been  such  as  to  make 
him  unable  to  endure  the  society  of  the  good,  he  wishes 
to  leave  them  also,  and  these  changes  continue  until  he 
finds  his  true  affinities*  With  them  he  finds  his  life,  and 
leads  a  similar  life  to  that  which  he  had  led  in  the  world* 
A  man  on  entering  the  world  of  spirits  is  in  human 
form,  and  has  all  the  organs  and  members  of  a  corporeal 
man ;  he  also,  at  first,  retains  the  countenance  and  tone 
of  voice  which  he  had  in  the  world,  but  afterwards  the 
face  is  changed  and  becomes  entirely  different,  for  it 
assumes  the  likeness  of  his  ruling  love*  Those  who  are 
principled  in  good  affections  are  beautiful,  but  the  faces 
of  those  who  are  in  evil  affections  appear  deformed* 
Every  man's  life  remains  with  him  after  death,  and 
we  are  told  repeatedly  in  the  Bible  that  man  will  be 
judged  and  rewarded  according  to  his  deeds  and  works* 
By  these  are  meant  not  only  his  outward  actions,  but  his 
real  interior  intentions*  Good  actions  which  are  not 
performed  for  their  own  sake  but  from  an  ulterior  motive 
are  really  evil*  People  who  act  for  the  sake  of  self  and 
the  world  are  not  really  sincere  and  just,  though  they  may 
appear  so*  The  life  which  remains  with  man  after  death 
is  his  love  and  faith  realised  in  action,  for  to  think  and 
will  without  action,  when  action  is  possible,  is  to  be  like 
a  flame  shut  up  in  a  close  vessel  which  dies  away*  Deeds 
or  works,  therefore,  constitute  man's  spiritual  life,  because 
they  contain  within  them  all  things  of  his  love  and  faith* 
Moreover,  man  after  death  remains  to  eternity  of  the  same 
quality  as  his  will,  or  ruling  love* 

Having  shown  how  the  spirit  of  man  is  introduced 
to  the  spiritual  world,  and  finally  gravitates  towards  his 
true  affinities,  let  us  see  what  the  world  of  spirits  is,  into 
which  he  makes  his  first  entry* 


THE  HEREAFTER 


201 


The  world  of  spirits  [says  Swedenborg]  is  neither  heaven 
nor  hell,  but  an  intermediate  place  or  state  between  the  two, 
into  which  man  enters  immediately  after  death,  and  then, 
after  a  certain  period,  the  duration  of  which  is  determined  by 
the  quality  of  his  life  in  the  world,  he  is  either  raised  to  Heaven, 
or  cast  into  hell. 

The  Roman  Catholics  evidently  had  some  idea  of  this 
and  based  their  doctrine  of  purgatory  on  it. 

Man  passes  through  three  states  after  death  before 
he  enters  either  Heaven  or  hell.  The  first  state  is  that 
of  his  exteriors,  the  second  that  of  his  interiors,  and  the 
third  is  one  of  preparation.  All  these  states  are  experi¬ 
enced  in  the  world  of  spirits  ;  but  some  spirits  do  not 
pass  through  them,  and  are  either  taken  up  directly  into 
Heaven  or  cast  into  hell  immediately  after  death.  Those 
immediately  taken  up  into  Heaven  had  been  regenerated 
in  the  world,  and  when  so  prepared  need  only  cast  off 
their  natural  defilements  with  the  body  to  be  carried  by 
angels  to  Heaven. 

In  the  ordinary  course,  man  after  death  comes  imme¬ 
diately  into  the  state  of  his  exteriors.  The  exteriors  of 
the  spirit  enable  him  to  adapt  the  body,  the  face,  speech, 
and  manners  to  the  society  in  which  he  lives  in  the  world, 
but  the  interiors  of  the  spirit  are  of  his  own  will  and  its 
derivative  thought,  and  are  rarely  exhibited  in  the  face, 
speech,  or  manner,  for  man  is  accustomed  from  infancy 
to  assume  the  appearance  of  friendship,  benevolence,  and 
sincerity,  and  to  conceal  the  thoughts  of  his  will.  He 
thus  contracts  outward  habits  in  agreement  with  moral 
and  civil  life,  whatever  his  real  interior  character  may  be, 
with  the  result  that  he  scarcely  knows  anything  of  his 
internals  and  thinks  nothing  about  them.  In  this  first 
state  man  is  as  he  was  in  the  world.  All  spirits  on  their 
entrance  into  another  life  are  recognised  by  their  friends, 
relations,  and  acquaintances,  and  talk  to  and  associate 
with  them  as  before.  Married  partners  meet  and  con¬ 
tinue  together  for  longer  or  shorter  periods,  according 
to  the  degree  of  delight  which  attended  their  cohabita¬ 
tion  in  the  world.  If  they  had  not  been  united  by  truly 
conjugal  love,  they  are  subsequently  separated  ;  but  if 


202 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


their  minds  were  discordant,  and  they  held  each  other 
interiorly  in  aversion,  they  break  out  into  open  enmity, 
and  even  into  actual  fighting,  but  they  are  not  separated 
until  they  enter  the  second  state* 

Usually,  seeing  that  their  life  is  not  unlike  that  which 
they  led  in  the  world,  spirits,  after  wondering  that  they 
are  in  the  body  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  senses,  and 
that  they  see  objects  similar  to  those  they  saw  in  the 
world,  are  seised  with  a  desire  for  knowledge  of  Heaven 
and  hell,  and  want  to  be  informed  where  they  are*  Their 
friends  then  instruct  them,  and  show  them  beautiful 
towns,  paradises  and  scenery,  because  these  things 
delight  their  externals*  Almost  all  are  anxious  to  know 
whether  they  will  go  to  Heaven,  and  many  believe  they 
will,  because  they  led  a  moral  and  civil  life  in  the  world, 
not  knowing  that  the  quality  of  conduct  depends  upon 
intentions  and  thoughts,  and  the  love  and  faith  inspiring 
it*  They  are  examined  by  good  spirits,  and  the  evil  are 
easily  distinguished  from  the  good  by  their  ready  atten¬ 
tion  when  they  are  spoken  to  about  external  things,  and 
their  disregard  for  the  truths  and  goods  of  Heaven  and 
the  Church,  which,  being  internal  things,  do  not  interest 
them*  The  first  state  of  man  after  death  is  not  pro¬ 
tracted  ;  its  duration  is,  however,  determined  according 
to  the  rapidity  with  which  the  exteriors  and  interiors  are 
brought  into  unison,  for  no  one  is  allowed  in  the  spiritual 
world  to  think  and  will  in  one  way  and  to  speak  and  act 
in  another*  Every  one  there  must  be  the  express  image 
of  his  own  affection  or  love,  thus  the  same  outwardly 
as  interiorly* 

The  second  state  after  death  is  that  of  the  interiors, 
for  man  is  then  let  into  his  interiors,  while  the  exteriors 
are  kept  dormant*  There  are  two  kinds  of  thought,  the 
one  exterior  and  the  other  interior,  as  is  evidenced  in  the 
case  of  hypocrites  and  sycophants*  When  a  spirit  is  in 
this  second  state  he  thinks  from  his  true  will,  and  con¬ 
sequently  from  his  real  affection  or  love,  so  that  his 
thought  is  united  with  his  will,  and  this  union  is  so 
perfect  that  the  spirit  appears  not  so  much  to  think  as 
to  will*  He  now  acts  from  his  selfhood,  and  thus  clearly 


THE  HEREAFTER 


203 


shows  what  kind  of  man  he  was  during  his  life  in  the 
world.  The  quality  of  the  wicked  in  this  state  cannot 
be  briefly  described  because  they  are  all  insane  according 
to  their  lusts,  and  these  are  various.  Those  who  only 
loved  themselves  and  worked  in  the  world  for  reputation 
and  self-aggrandisement  are  particularly  stupid,  for  they 
are  in  antagonism  to  heavenly  wisdom. 

In  this  second  state  evil  spirits  rush  headlong  into 
every  kind  of  crime,  for  which  they  are  severely  punished, 
because  it  is  only  by  fear  that  their  evils  can  be  subdued. 
Good  spirits  are  never  punished,  although  they  may  have 
committed  sins  in  the  world,  because  their  evils  do  not 
return.  These  were  not  perpetrated  with  a  purpose 
contrary  to  the  truth,  nor  from  an  evil  heart  or  will,  but 
from  the  evil  inherited  from  parents.  Sins  thus  com¬ 
mitted  are  through  the  snare  of  blind  delight,  when  man 
is  in  externals  separate  from  internals.  *  Blessed  is  he 
whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is  covered. 
Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the  Lord  imputeth 
not  iniquity,  and  in  whose  spirit  there  is  no  guile/ 
(Psalm  xxxii.) 

The  separation  of  evil  spirits  from  good  spirits  is 
effected  in  this  second  state.  Into  the  third  state  only 
good  spirits  are  admitted,  for  it  is  a  state  of  instruction, 
and  evil  spirits  cannot  be  instructed.  Instruction  is  given 
by  the  angels  of  many  societies,  and  the  places  of  instruc¬ 
tion  are  of  various  kinds,  arranged  and  distinguished, 
according  to  the  genera  and  species  of  heavenly  goods, 
to  suit  the  different  capacities  and  types  of  spirits.  The 
good  spirits  to  be  instructed  are  led  there  by  the  Lord 
when  they  have  passed  through  the  second  state,  except 
those  who  were  instructed  in  the  world,  and  were  there 
prepared  by  the  Lord  for  Heaven ;  these  are  taken  to  their 
destination  by  another  way.  Some  are  admitted  imme¬ 
diately  after  death,  some  after  a  short  stay  with  good 
spirits  where  the  grossness  of  thought  and  affection  con¬ 
tracted  from  honours  and  riches  are  removed  from  them, 
and  they  are  thus  purified.  Others  who,  though  they 
may  have  led  a  good  life,  have  confirmed  themselves  in 
errors,  undergo  grievous  sufferings  before  these  errors 


204 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


and  falsities,  which  when  confirmed  by  the  will  adhere 
most  tenaciously,  can  be  dispersed  to  make  way  for 
truths* 

Swedenborg  concludes  his  description  of  the  world 
of  spirits,  or  the  intermediate  state,  with  a  warning* 

They  who  are  instructed  concerning  Heaven  [he  says] 
suppose  that  entrance  into  Heaven  is  the  gift  of  free  mercy  to 
those  who  have  faith,  and  for  whom  the  Lord  intercedes* 
They  therefore  believe  that  admission  is  granted  by  mere 
favour,  and  that  all  men  without  exception  might  be  saved  if 
it  were  the  Lord's  pleasure*  Some  even  go  farther  and  imagine 
that  all  who  are  in  hell  might  be  saved  also*  *  *  *  It  is  therefore 
expedient  to  define  what  the  Divine  Mercy  is.  Divine  Mercy 
is  the  pure  mercy  of  the  Lord  which  seeks  the  salvation  of  the 
whole  human  race*  It  is  continually  present  with  every  man 
for  this  end,  and  never  recedes  from  him,  so  that  every  one  who 
can  be,  is  saved,  but  no  one  can  be  saved  except  by  Divine 
means,  which  are  revealed  by  the  Lord  in  the  Word*  Divine 
means  are  *  .  .  Divine  truths,  and  Divine  truths  teach  man 
how  to  live  in  order  to  be  saved.  By  them  the  Lord  leads  man 
to  Heaven,  and  implants  the  life  of  heaven  within  him,  and  this 
He  does  with  all ;  but  the  life  of  heaven  cannot  be  implanted 
in  any  one  unless  he  abstains  from  evil,  because  evil  is  anta¬ 
gonistic*  So  far  therefore  as  man  abstains  from  evil,  the  Lord 
leads  him  by  Divine  means  out  of  pure  mercy,  from  infancy 
to  the  end  of  life  in  the  world,  and  afterwards  to  eternity*  This 
is  the  Divine  Mercy,  and  hence  it  is  evident  that  the  Lord's 
mercy  is  pure  mercy,  and  that  it  is  not  immediate  or  uncon¬ 
ditional  mercy  which  might  save  all  by  mere  good  pleasure 
let  their  life  be  what  it  may*  The  Lord  never  acts  contrary 
to  order,  because  He  is  Order  itself.  The  Divine  Truth 
proceeding  from  the  Lord  makes  order,  and  Divine  truths  are 
the  laws  of  order,  according  to  which  the  Lord  leads  man.  To 
save  man,  therefore,  by  immediate  mercy  would  be  contrary 
to  Divine  Order,  and  what  is  contrary  to  Divine  Order  is 
contrary  to  the  Divine  Himself* 

We  will  now  turn  to  Swedenborg's  description  of 
Heaven*  This  spiritual  region  which  is  populated  entirely 
by  angels  from  the  human  race  who  have  inhabited  one 
of  the  innumerable  globes  of  the  universe,  is  divided 
in  general  into  two  kingdoms,  specifically  into  three 


THE  HEREAFTER  205 

heavens,  and  in  particular  into  countless  societies.  The 
angels  of  the  celestial  kingdom  receive  the  Divine  influx 
from  the  Lord  in  their  wills,  and  consequently  more 
interiorly  than  those  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  who 
receive  it  in  their  intellect.  Celestial  love  is  love  of  the 
Lord,  whilst  spiritual  love  is  charity  towards  the  neigh¬ 
bour.  There  is  communication  and  conjunction  between 
the  two  kingdoms  by  means  of  intermediate  celestial- 
spiritual  angelic  societies.  The  three  heavens  are  perfectly 
distinct,  and  consist  of  the  inmost,  or  third ;  the  middle 
or  second  ;  and  the  ultimate,  or  first  heaven.  They  are 
in  mutual  relation  like  the  chief  parts  of  a  man,  the  head, 
the  body,  and  the  legs  and  feet.  The  Divine  influx 
which  proceeds  and  descends  from  the  Lord  is  in  similar 
order,  hence  from  the  necessity  of  order,  Heaven  is  three¬ 
fold.  The  Divine  influx  into  the  third  heaven  is  celestial, 
that  into  the  second  spiritual,  and  that  into  the  first  or 
ultimate,  natural,  but  this  is  not  the  same  as  what  we 
call  natural,  it  is  a  spiritual  and  celestial  natural,  and  the 
angels  there  are  spiritual  natural  and  celestial  natural; 
these  are  distinct,  yet  constitute  one  heaven,  being  in  the 
same  degree.  In  every  heaven  there  is  an  internal  and 
an  external,  which  are  like  the  will  and  the  intellect  with 
man.  Those  angels  who  admit  Divine  Truths  im¬ 
mediately  into  the  life,  viz.,  into  the  will  and  thence  into 
act,  are  in  the  inmost  or  third  heaven,  but  those  who 
admit  them  first  into  the  memory,  from  thence  into  the 
reason,  from  which  they  act,  are  in  the  middle  or  second 
heaven,  whilst  those  who,  whilst  living  morally  and 
believing  in  God,  have  no  particular  concern  to  be  in¬ 
structed,  are  in  the  lowest  or  first  heaven.  For  Heaven  is 
within  us,  and  not  outside.  Although  the  heavens  are 
so  distinct  that  the  angels  of  one  cannot  associate  with 
those  of  another,  yet  they  are  all  united  by  the  Lord  by 
immediate  influx  from  Himself  into  all,  and  mediate 
influx  from  one  heaven  into  another,  for  unless  they  were 
thus  connected  they  would  not  form  a  one,  and  yet  heaven 
viewed  collectively  is  in  the  form  of  a  man,  and  is  governed 
by  the  Lord  as  a  unit,  consisting  indeed  of  many  parts, 
just  as  the  human  body  is  composed  of  members,  organs 


2o6 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


and  viscera,  which  again  are  composed  of  fibres,  nerves, 
blood  vessels,  etc. 

The  angels  of  each  heaven  are  not  together,  but 
segregated  in  greater  or  smaller  societies  according  to 
the  different  varieties  of  good  in  which  they  may  be. 
These  societies  are  distant  from  each  other  according  to 
the  general  and  specific  differences  of  their  goodness. 
The  angels  of  a  society  are  similarly  graduated,  the  most 
perfect  being  in  the  centre,  and  the  others  proportionately 
distant,  very  much  as  light  decreases  from  its  centre  to 
its  circumference.  Angels  of  similar  quality  have  a  sort 
of  chemical  affinity  or  molecular  attraction  for  each  other 
and  are  spontaneously  drawn  to  each  other. 

Every  angel  is  a  miniature  of  heaven,  so  to  speak,  and 
every  society  of  angels,  when  seen  collectively,  appears 
as  a  man,  although  the  form  of  each  society  varies. 

The  light  of  heaven  is  Divine  truth,  and  its  heat, 
Divine  good,  both  proceeding  from  the  Lord  as  a  sun. 
But  the  Lord  does  not  appear  as  a  sun  in  Heaven,  but  on 
high  and  above  the  heavens,  yet  not  above  the  head  or 
in  the  zenith,  but  before  the  faces  of  the  angels,  at  a 
medium  altitude.  He  appears  to  each  angel  according 
to  individual  receptivity.  To  those  who  receive  Him 
in  the  goodness  of  love  He  appears  as  a  fiery  flaming  sun, 
and  these,  as  already  stated,  are  in  His  celestial  kingdom. 
But  to  those  who  receive  Him  in  the  goodness  of  faith 
He  appears  as  a  white  and  brilliant  moon,  these  are  in 
His  spiritual  kingdom.  This  difference  is  due  to 
correspondence,  for  fire  is  love  and  light  is  faith  in  the 
spiritual  sense.  However,  when  the  Lord  appears  within 
Heaven,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  he  appears  in  an  angelic 
form,  but  He  is  never  personally  in  Heaven,  because 
personally  He  is  always  encompassed  with  the  sun;  He  is 
there  by  aspect. 

There  are  four  quarters  in  Heaven  as  in  the  world,  but 
in  Heaven  all  quarters  are  determined  from  the  east,  where 
the  Lord  appears  as  a  sun ;  moreover,  the  east  is  always 
in  front  of  the  angels,  the  west  behind  them,  the  south  on 
their  right,  and  the  north  on  their  left.  This  is  because 
the  whole  Heaven  turns  itself  to  the  Lord  as  to  its  common 


THE  HEREAFTER 


207 


centre*  It  is  analogous  to  the  centripetal  force  and 
gravitation  in  the  natural  world,  with  this  difference, 
that  in  Heaven  it  is  the  front  and  fore-part  which  tends 
to  the  centre,  whilst  in  the  world  it  is  the  lower  parts, 
which,  being  nearer,  are  more  strongly  attracted*  Which¬ 
ever  way  the  angels  may  turn  they  still  have  the  east  in 
front  of  them,  because  their  changes  of  aspect  are  different 
from  those  of  men,  and  all  determinations  of  aspect,  both 
with  spirits  and  angels,  spring  from  their  ruling  love* 
This,  Swedenborg  says,  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  Heaven. 
It  is  also  marvellous  that  although  the  aspect  of  the  angels 
is  always  to  the  east,  yet  they  have  an  aspect  to  the  other 
quarters ;  but  this  is  from  their  interior  or  intellectual 
sight. 

In  the  spiritual  kingdom,  where  the  Lord  appears 
as  a  moon,  this  is  also  in  the  east,  but  there  is  a  distance 
of  thirty  degrees  between  the  sun  and  the  moon  in  heaven, 
consequently  there  is  the  same  difference  between  the 
quarters  of  the  celestial  and  spiritual  kingdoms* 

All  the  denizens  of  Heaven  have  their  dwellings  in 
accordance  with  the  quarters.  Those  who  are  in  the 
goodness  of  love  dwell  east  and  west,  those  who  are  in 
clear  perception  dwelling  in  the  east,  and  those  who  are 
in  obscure  perception  in  the  west.  Those  who  are  in 
wisdom  derived  from  the  goodness  of  love  dwell  south 
and  north,  those  in  the  clear  light  of  wisdom  south,  and 
those  in  obscure  light,  north*  The  dwellings  of  the 
angels  in  the  spiritual  kingdom  are  arranged  on  the 
same  principle.  The  same  arrangement  prevails  in 
every  society  in  Heaven,  and  every  angel  knows  his 
place* 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  life  in  Heaven 
is  monotonous  ;  on  the  contrary  the  angels  are  constantly 
undergoing  changes  of  state,  changes  as  to  their  love 
and  faith,  and  their  wisdom  and  intelligence,  and  these 
interior  changes  affect  their  outward  living  conditions. 
These  changes  have  some  analogy  with  the  changes  of 
the  seasons  and  the  times  of  the  day,  for  while  the  latter 
are  dependent  on  the  world's  attitude  towards  the  sun, 
the  former  are  dependent  on  the  attitude  of  the  angels 


208 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


towards  the  Lord,  In  the  Bible,  days  and  years  signify 
states  of  life  in  general,  heat  and  light,  love  and  wisdom ; 
the  morning,  the  first  and  highest  degree  of  love ;  noon, 
wisdom  in  its  light ;  the  evening,  wisdom  in  its  shade ; 
daybreak,  the  obscurity  which  preceded  the  morn  (or  the 
first  and  highest  degree  of  love) ;  and  night,  the  privation 
of  love  and  wisdom. 

One  of  the  causes  of  these  changes  is  the  love  of  self, 
for  even  the  angels  have  self-love  or  they  could  not  enjoy 
happiness ;  but  they  are  restrained  or  withheld  from 
this  love  by  the  Lord,  In  proportion  as  this  restraint 
is  relaxed  they  sink  into  this  self-love,  and  hence  arise 
changes  of  state  and  successive  vicissitudes.  These 
changes  of  state,  however,  are  means  of  perfecting  those 
who  experience  them,  whose  perception  and  sense  of 
good  is  rendered  more  exquisite  by  these  alternations 
of  delight  and  dejection,  or  undelight.  By  these  alterna¬ 
tions  angels  are  perfected  to  eternity,  for  there  can  be  no 
finality  to  goodness  and  wisdom. 

The  angels  have  no  conception  of  time,  although  they 
live  in  a  successive  progression,  as  in  the  world,  and  that 
so  completely  that  there  is  no  difference.  The  reason 
being  that  instead  of  years  and  days,  as  there  are  on  earth, 
there  are  changes  of  state.  This  can  be  logically  under¬ 
stood  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  source  of  time  is 
the  sun,  and  that  the  spiritual  sun  affects  angels  according 
to  the  state  of  receptivity  in  which  they  are,  as  we  have 
seen  above. 

All  things  in  Heaven  also  appear  to  be  in  space  and  in 
place  just  as  in  the  world,  yet  the  angels  have  no  idea  of 
space  or  place.  Here  again,  all  changes  of  locality  or  area 
are  effected  by  changes  of  state  of  the  interiors,  hence  there 
are  no  distances,  only  changes  of  state. 

Change  of  place  being  only  change  of  state  [as  Swedenborg 
says]  it  is  evident  that  approximations  are  similitudes  of  the 
state  of  the  interiors,  and  that  removals  are  dissimilitudes,  and 
hence  it  is  that  they  are  near  to  each  other  who  are  in  a  similar 
state,  and  distant  who  are  in  a  dissimilar  state,  and  that  spaces 
in  Heaven  are  merely  external  states  corresponding  to  internal. 
From  this  cause  alone  are  the  heavens  distinct  from  each  other, 


THE  HEREAFTER 


209 


and  each  society  of  every  heaven,  and  every  individual  in  each 
society  ;  and  hence  also  the  hells  are  altogether  separated  from 
the  heavens. 

The  objects  which  appear  in  the  heavens  are  nearly  all 
similar  to  those  on  earth,  yet  they  are  not  similar  in  essence, 
seeing  that  they  have  their  being  directly  from  the  sun 
of  Heaven,  whilst  material  objects  owe  their  existence 
indirectly  to  the  natural  sun. 

To  those  who  are  in  intelligence  in  Heaven  there  appear 
gardens  and  paradises,  full  of  trees  and  every  variety  of 
flowers,  the  trees  also  bear  fruit  according  to  the  goodness 
of  love  in  which  these  angels  are  principled.  They  walk 
in  these  paradises,  gather  flowers,  and  weave  garlands  for 
little  children. 

Angels  have  clothes,  houses  and  similar  things,  only  in 
much  greater  perfection  than  on  earth.  In  describing  how 
the  angels  are  attired  Swedenborg  says  : 

The  most  intelligent  have  garments  which  glitter  as  with  flame, 
and  some  are  resplendent  as  with  light ;  while  the  less  intelli¬ 
gent  have  garments  of  clear  or  opaque  white  without  splendour, 
and  the  still  less  intelligent  have  garments  of  various  colours  ; 
but  the  angels  of  the  inmost  heaven  are  naked.  .  .  .  The 
garments  of  the  angels  do  not  merely  appear  to  be  garments, 
but  really  are  garments,  for  the  angels  not  only  see  them,  but 
feel  them,  and  have  many  changes  which  they  take  off  and  put 
on,  laying  aside  those  which  are  not  in  use,  and  resuming  them 
when  they  come  into  use  again. 

Angels  also  have  houses,  exactly  like  those  on  earth, 
only  more  beautiful.  They  contain  various  kinds  of  rooms 
including  bedrooms,  and  they  have  courts,  gardens  and 
fields.  Indeed,  there  are  rural  and  urban  residences ;  and 
the  towns  are  arranged  in  streets  and  squares,  etc.  There 
are  also  palaces  in  Heaven  of  a  magnificence,  Swedenborg 
affirms,  beyond  description.  *  Their  upper  parts  were 
refulgent  as  if  of  pure  gold,  and  their  basements  as  if  they 
were  precious  stones  :  some  were  more  splendid  than 
others,  and  the  splendour  without  was  equalled  by  the 
magnificence  within/ 

Not  only  the  palaces  and  houses,  but  the  minutest 
details  correspond  to  interior  things. 


210 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


The  houses  occupied  by  the  angels  are  not  built,  but 
are  given  them  freely  by  the  Lord  according  to  their 
reception  of  good  and  truth,  and  vary  with  their  change 
of  state  referred  to  above*  Whatsoever  the  angels  possess 
they  hold  as  gifts  from  the  Lord* 

Some  angels  do  not  live  in  societies  but  separately, 
these  are  in  the  midst  of  Heaven  and  the  most  perfect* 

As  Heaven  consists  of  societies  it  follows  that  there  are 
governments  there,  these  governments  are  various  and 
adapted  to  the  states  of  the  various  societies,  but  in  one 
essential  they  are  identical,  the  only  government  in  Heaven 
is  the  government  of  mutual  love,  this  is  heavenly  govern¬ 
ment*  The  governors  are  distinguished  by  greater  love 
and  wisdom,  they  are  benevolent  towards  all,  and  their 
wisdom  enables  them  to  give  effect  to  their  benevolence* 
They  do  not  domineer  and  command,  but  minister  and 
serve,  nor  do  they  magnify  themselves  in  their  relations  to 
others,  but  rather  humble  themselves,  for  they  put  the  good 
of  society  in  the  first  place,  and  themselves  in  the  last* 
Nevertheless  they  enjoy  honour  and  glory  and  are  housed 
in  splendid  palaces,  but  they  accept  these  distinctions  for 
the  sake  of  obedience,  because  all  know  that  they  enjoy 
them  from  the  Lord,  and  not  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
gratification* 

Seeing  that  there  is  civil  government  in  Heaven,  it 
follows  that  there  is  Divine  Worship  with  churches  and 
preachers,  these  are  fully  described  in  4  Heaven  and  Hell/ 
We  need  not  emphasise  the  fact  that  the  angels  must 
have  occupation*  The  idea  of  living  to  eternity  in  a  state 
of  idleness  may  appeal  to  the  Oriental  mind,  to  Buddhists 
who  look  forward  to  Nirvana,  but  is  not  in  harmony  with 
the  Christian  ideal  of  charity*  In  this  connection  it  may 
be  interesting  to  read  that : 

*  It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  or  to  describe  speci¬ 
fically  the  employments  of  Heaven,  because  they  are 
innumerable  and  various  according  to  the  distinct  offices 
of  every  society/  for  every  society  has  its  function  and 
every  one  in  Heaven  performs  some  use,  for  it  is  a  kingdom 
of  uses*  As  we  have  seen  there  is  civil  government,  and 
there  are  ecclesiastical  affairs  and  domestic  affairs*  Then 


THE  HEREAFTER 


21 1 


there  are  societies  whose  duties  consist  in  taking  care  of 
infants,  others  who  instruct  and  educate  them  as  they  grow 
up,  others  again  who  attend  to  the  young,  there  are  those 
who  teach  the  simply  good  from  the  Christian  world  and 
lead  them  into  the  way  to  Heaven,  others  who  render 
similar  services  to  the  *  Gentiles/  others  who  defend 
novitiate  spirits,  or  new-comers  from  the  infestations  of 
evil  spirits,  some  are  present  with  spirits  in  hell  to  restrain 
them  from  tormenting  each  other  beyond  certain  limits, 
then  there  are  those  who,  as  we  have  seen,  attend  on  the 
dead  and  dying.  Moreover  angels  of  every  society  are 
sent  to  men  that  they  may  guard  them  and  withdraw  them 
from  evil  affections  and  thoughts,  and  inspire  them,  as  far 
as  they  may  be  willing,  with  good  ones. 

All  these  employments  of  the  angels  are  functions  per¬ 
formed  by  the  Lord  through  them.  Apart  from  these, 
however,  every  angel  has  his  own  particular  duty :  all 
angels  delight  in  their  work  and  labour,  as  they  all  have  a 
love  of  use,  and  no  love  of  fame  or  of  gain ;  indeed,  all  their 
needs  are  freely  supplied. 

As  Heaven  is  from  the  human  race,  and  as  the  human 
race  has  two  sexes,  it  follows,  seeing  that  spirits  after  death 
have  a  substantial  body  in  all  respects  similar  to  their 
corporeal  body,  that  there  should  be  marriages  in  Heaven. 
But  marriage  in  Heaven  is  the  joining  of  two  minds  in  one. 
Two  married  partners  in  Heaven  are  there  not  called  two 
but  one  angel,  for  in  Heaven  the  will  of  the  wife  is  also  the 
will  of  the  husband,  and  the  understanding  of  the  husband 
is  also  that  of  the  wife.  For  a  full  explanation  of  conjugal 
love  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  our  chapter  on  4  Sex/ 
Marriages  in  Heaven  differ  from  marriages  on  earth 
inasmuch  as  there  is  no  procreation  of  children  there, 
but  only  procreation  of  goodness  and  truth. 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  angels  is,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  training  of  infants.  Swedenborg  assures 
us  that  every  infant  wheresoever  born,  whether  within  the 
Church  or  not,  whether  of  wicked  parents  or  good,  is,  if  it  dies 
in  infancy,  received  by  the  Lord  and  educated  in  Heaven. 
Infants  are  instructed  principally  by  representatives,  and 
Swedenborg  gives  a  charming  description  of  how  this  is 


212 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


done*  Lest  angels  who  have  departed  the  worldly  life  in 
their  infancy  and  have  grown  up  in  Heaven  should  imagine 
that  their  goodness  is  inherent  in  themselves,  they  are 
sometimes  let  into  their  hereditary  evils  until  they  acknow¬ 
ledge  and  believe  that  they  owe  whatever  goodness  they 
have  to  the  Lord* 

Swedenborg  gives  some  interesting  descriptions  of 
various  public  functions  in  heavenly  societies,  such  as 
athletic  sports,  public  debates,  and  even  banquets*  There 
is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  there  is  no  literature  or  art, 
or  that  there  are  no  theatres  in  Heaven,  and  on  the  contrary 
we  are  told  by  him  that  there  is  most  exquisite  music* 

We  must  now  turn  from  the  delightful  subject  of  Heaven, 
the  surface  of  which,  as  it  were,  we  have  only  skimmed,  for 
we  have  no  space  to  dwell  upon  what  Swedenborg  has  to 
say  concerning  the  blessedness  of  Heaven,  the  peace  of 
Heaven,  and  the  wisdom  and  power  of  the  angels,  their 
speech,  their  writing,  and  innumerable  other  details  full 
of  luminous  wisdom,  all  corroborated  and  illustrated  by 
quotations  from  the  Word* 

It  is  less  pleasant  to  consider  the  fate  of  those  who,  after 
death,  are  found  to  have  formed  a  character  which  unfits 
them  for  Heaven*  It  may  be  said  that  such  persons  are 
punished ;  so  indeed  they  are,  but  their  punishment  is  self- 
inflicted,  and  if  they  were  admitted  into  Heaven  we  can 
easily  conclude,  from  what  has  been  said  about  the  constitu¬ 
tion  of  heavenly  societies,  that  they  would  be  profoundly 
miserable  there*  At  the  close  of  his  book  on  *  The  Divine 
Providence  *  Swedenborg  records  an  interesting  experience* 

Certain  spirits  [he  tells  us],  by  permission,  ascended  from 
hell,  and  said  to  me,  *  You  have  written  a  great  deal  from  the 
Lord,  write  something  also  from  us/  I  replied,  *  What  shall 
I  write  i  *  They  said,  *  Write  that  every  spirit,  whether  he  be 
good  or  evil,  is  in  his  own  delight — the  good  in  the  delight  of 
his  good  and  the  evil  in  the  delight  of  his  evil/  I  asked  them, 
4  What  may  your  delight  be  i  1  They  said  that  it  was  the 
delight  of  committing  adultery,  stealing,  defrauding  and  lying. 
Again  I  asked, 4  What  is  the  nature  of  these  delights  i  * 

To  this  question  the  spirits  replied  that  their  delights 
were  perceived  by  others  as  revolting  and  disgusting,  but 


THE  HEREAFTER 


213 


were,  nevertheless,  most  delightful  to  them.  *  Then/ 
said  Swedenborg,  *  you  are  like  the  unclean  beasts  which 
live  in  such  filth/  They  answered,  *  If  we  are,  we  are  ; 
but  such  things  are  the  delights  of  our  nostrils/  On 
asking  them  what  else  he  should  write  they  told  him  : 

*  Write  this,  that  it  is  permitted  every  one  to  be  in  his  own 
delight,  even  the  most  unclean,  as  it  is  called,  provided  he 
does  not  infest  good  spirits  and  angels  ;  but  as  we  could  not 
do  otherwise  than  infest  them,  we  were  driven  out,  and  cast 
into  hell,  where  we  experience  direful  sufferings/  On 
being  asked  why  they  infested  the  good,  they  explained 
they  could  not  do  otherwise,  and  that  they  felt  themselves 
invaded  by  a  sort  of  fury  when  they  saw  an  angel  and  felt 
the  Divine  sphere  around  him. 

We  have  seen  that  Heaven  is  governed  by  the  Lord, 
but,  as  Swedenborg  explains, 

since  the  relation  of  Heaven  to  hell  and  of  hell  to  Heaven  is 
like  that  of  two  opposites  mutually  acting  against  each  other, 
and  by  this  action  and  re-action  producing  an  equilibrium  in 
which  all  things  subsist ;  therefore  in  order  that  all  things  may 
be  kept  in  equilibrium,  it  is  necessary  that  He  who  rules  the 
heavens  should  also  rule  the  hells  ;  for  unless  the  same  Ruler 
restrained  the  assaults  of  hell  and  calmed  the  insanities  which 
rage  there,  equilibrium  would  be  destroyed  and  the  whole 
universe  would  perish. 

When  two  things  mutually  act  against  each  other,  and 
the  reaction  and  resistance  of  the  one  are  equal  to  the  action 
and  impulse  of  the  other,  neither  of  them  has  any  force  ;  because 
each  neutralises  the  other,  and  therefore  a  third  may  act  upon 
them  at  pleasure  as  easily  as  if  there  were  no  opposition.  Such 
is  the  equilibrium  between  Heaven  and  hell.  It  is  not  the 
equilibrium  of  two  bodily  combatants  whose  strength  is  equal, 
but  it  is  the  spiritual  equilibrium  between  the  false  and  the 
true,  evil  and  good.  There  is  a  continual  exhalation  from  hell 
of  the  false  derived  from  evil,  and  a  continual  exhalation  from 
Heaven  of  the  true  derived  from  good,  and  hence  results  a 
spiritual  equilibrium,  in  which  man  enjoys  freedom  of  thought 
and  will.  .  ♦  .  All  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  of  spirits  exist 
in  that  equilibrium,  because  the  world  of  spirits  is  mid-way 
between  Heaven  and  hell,  and  all  men  in  the  natural  world 
are  kept  in  a  similar  equilibrium  for  the  same  reason. 


214 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


Hell  is  divided  into  as  many  societies  as  Heaven,  for 
every  society  in  heaven  has  its  opposite  in  hell ;  but  there 
is  no  personal  infernal  ruler  of  hell*  The  Devil  means 
hell  under  one  aspect  and  Satan  means  hell  under  another* 
As  the  universal  Heaven  in  one  complex  constitutes  one 
man,  so  the  universal  hell  may  be  described  as  constituting 
one  monster,  or  devil*  Although  there  is  no  supreme 
Devil,  there  are  governments  in  hell  to  keep  the  internals 
in  restraint*  Infernal  government  springs  from  self-love, 
for  every  one  in  hell  desires  to  rule  over  others  and  to  be 
the  greatest*  Infernal  spirits  hate  those  who  do  not  favour 
them,  and  they  pursue  them  with  vengeance  and  cruelty, 
wherefore  the  most  malignant  are  made  governors,  and  rule 
by  fear,  but  they  dare  not  pass  beyond  certain  prescribed 
limits*  The  punishments  of  hell  are  various,  and  are  gentle 
or  severe  according  to  the  nature  of  the  evils  to  be  restrained, 
but  the  fear  of  punishment  is  the  only  means  of  restraining 
the  violence  and  fury  of  the  infernal  spirits.  Their  severe 
punishment  appears  to  be  the  Lord's  doing,  but  no  punish¬ 
ment  is  from  the  Lord*  Evil  itself  is  the  origin  of  punish¬ 
ment,  because  evil  and  its  own  punishment  are  so  intimately 
associated  that  they  cannot  be  separated*  Infernal  spirits 
love  and  desire  nothing  better  than  to  do  evil,  and 
especially  to  inflict  punishment  and  torture  on  others* 
They  consequently  actually  injure  and  punish  every 
one  who  is  not  protected  by  the  Lord,  and  since  all 
who  do  evil  from  an  evil  heart  reject  the  protection  of 
the  Lord,  infernal  spirits  rush  upon  them  and  punish 
them* 

Imagine  [says  Swedenborg]  a  state  of  society  composed 
entirely  of  men  who  love  themselves  alone,  and  who  love  others 
only  so  far  as  they  make  one  with  themselves.  It  is  evident 
that  their  love  is  like  that  which  exists  among  robbers ;  for 
they  embrace  and  call  each  other  friends  when  they  are  united 
by  a  common  interest ;  but  when  that  is  severed  they  despise 
all  subordination,  and  murder  one  another*  If  the  interiors 
or  minds  of  such  men  are  explored  they  are  seen  to  be  full  of 
mortal  hatred  against  each  other,  while  they  laugh  in  their 
hearts  at  all  justice  and  sincerity,  and  even  at  the  Divine  Being 
Himself,  for  they  regard  Him  as  a  nonentity* 


THE  HEREAFTER 


215 


Swedenborg  thus  defines  self-love  : 

Self-love  consists  in  a  man's  willing  well  to  himself  alone, 
and  not  to  others,  except  for  the  sake  of  himself.  ♦  ♦  .  To 
confer  benefits  merely  for  the  sake  of  our  own  reputation, 
honour,  and  glory,  is  also  a  form  of  self-love  ;  because  unless 
these  rewards  can  be  obtained  by  doing  good  to  others,  the 
selfish  man  says  in  his  heart,  *  What  business  is  it  of  mine  i 
Why  should  I  do  this  i  What  advantage  is  it  to  me  i  *  and  so 
he  does  nothing. 

In  the  Bible  the  portion  of  those  who  are  in  hell  is 
described  by  everlasting  fire  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  The 
fire  of  hell,  or  infernal  love,  exists  from  the  same  origin 
as  the  fire  of  Heaven  or  heavenly  love.  Both  are  from  the 
Sun  of  Heaven,  which  is  the  Lord,  but  this  Divine  emanation 
is  made  infernal  by  the  infernal  spirits  who  receive  it. 
The  fire  of  hell  is  therefore  the  love  of  self  and  the  world, 
and  includes  every  lust  which  springs  from  these,  together 
with  their  respective  delights.  The  fire  of  hell,  or  infernal 
heat,  is  turned  into  intense  cold  whenever  the  heat  of  Heaven 
flows  into  it,  and  causes  the  infernal  spirits  to  shiver  and 
feel  inwardly  tormented.  Thick  darkness  follows  and 
then  infatuation  and  blindness.  These  states  however  are 
only  experienced  when  it  is  necessary  to  quell  the  excessive 
outrages  of  infernal  licence.  Every  infernal  spirit  cherishes 
hatred  against  every  other,  and  from  that  hatred  torments 
others  with  savage  cruelty  as  far  as  he  has  the  power  to  do 
so.  These  cruelties  and  the  torments  they  cause  are  also 
understood  by  hell  fire,  for  they  are  the  effects  of  evil 
passions. 

Gnashing  of  teeth  fs  the  continual  dispute  and  combat 
of  falses,  and  therefore  of  those  who  are  principled  in 
them. 

The  Lord  permits  torments  in  hell  because  evils  cannot 
otherwise  be  restrained  and  subdued.  It  is  generally 
believed  that  God  is  angry  with  man  for  his  sins  and  casts 
him  into  hell.  But  this  is  not  the  case,  because  the  Lord 
is  never  angry,  and  never  rejects  man,  for  God  is  goodness 
itself,  love  itself,  and  mercy  itself,  and  could  not  therefore 
do  evil  to  anyone.  We  have  been  told  that  heaven  is 


2i6 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


within  us,  and  it  is  equally  true  that  hell  is  within  us*  Man 
does  evil  from  hell  and  good  from  the  Lord,  but  if  he 
believes  that  whatever  he  does  is  from  himself  then  the 
evil  which  he  does  adheres  to  him  as  his  own,  and  after 
death  he  desires  nothing  more  earnestly  than  to  be  where 
his  own  evil  is*  It  is,  therefore,  man  who  casts  himself 
into  hell*  This  he  does  in  the  world  of  spirits  when  he 
turns  away  from  the  good  spirits  who,  as  already  described, 
attend  him,  and  then  seeks  his  real  affinities,  thus  casting 
himself  headlong  into  hell* 

However  it  is  not  so  difficult  to  enter  Heaven  as  some 
believe,  for  a  man  may  live  outwardly  as  others  do,  may 
amass  wealth,  keep  a  plentiful  table,  dwell  in  a  fine  house, 
dress  sumptuously,  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  the  world,  and 
undertake  worldly  enterprises  for  the  sake  of  occupation 
and  business  and  for  the  recreation  of  mind  and  body 
*  provided/  Swedenborg  adds,  *  that  he  interiorly  acknow¬ 
ledges  a  Divine  Being,  and  wishes  well  to  his  neighbour.* 

With  regard  to  the  fate  of  the  wicked,  it  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  grievous  though  it  be,  the  only  fate  possible  for  them. 
Those  spirits  who  retain  the  possibility  of  being  made 
happy,  are  prepared  for  Heaven  in  the  world  of  spirits,  the 
others  who  were  miserable  on  earth,  are  miserable  in  hell, 
but  in  Heaven  they  could  not  exist,  whilst  in  hell  they  are 
at  least  in  their  own  delight* 


CHAPTER  XII 
The  Godhead 

In  all  ages  and  all  climes  man  has  been  prone  to  believe 
in  the  supernatural,  in  a  god  (or  a  number  of  gods),  yet 
this  tendency  in  man,  which  is  as  strong  and  deep-rooted 
as  the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  has  been  derided  by  the 
learned  of  all  countries  as  superstition.  The  men  who 
have  eaten  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
the  men  who  regard  their  learning  as  self-derived,  have 
great  difficulty  in  humbling  themselves  as  little  children 
and  acknowledging  that  all  they  know  and  all  they  possess 
has  been  bestowed  upon  them  by  a  Higher  Power.  They 
like  to  think,  as  the  self-made  man  too  often  thinks,  that  all 
their  achievements,  that  all  the  results  they  have  obtained, 
are  due  to  their  own  efforts,  their  own  industry,  their  own 
wisdom.  Nevertheless,  even  among  these,  there  have  been 
many  who,  while  they  could  not  believe  in  the  childish  tradi¬ 
tions  of  the  people,  have  admitted  that  the  problem  of  the 
origin  of  life  could  not  be  explained  on  any  other  hypothesis 
than  on  that  of  the  existence  of  some  unknown  supernatural 
force,  nor  could  they  discover  a  sufficient  inducement  for 
conduct  without  postulating  a  future  life.  Thus  Voltaire, 
with  his  usual  demoniacal  wit,  declared  that  if  there  was 
no  God,  it  would  be  necessary  to  invent  one,  and  Goethe, 
who  was,  as  we  know,  a  dilettante  student  of  Swedenborg, 
admitted,  in  his  *  Dichtung  und  Wahrheit/  his  belief  in  a 
supernatural  force  which  manifested  itself  occasionally  on 
earth,  e.g.  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  views  of  the  German 
philosophers  have  been  epigrammatically  crystallised  in  the 
story  of  the  two  intense  German  ladies  who  are  represented 


2l8 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


as  discussing  metaphysics,  and  one  of  whom  is  made 
to  say  :  *  Es  giebt  ein  gewisses  Etwas  t  (there  is  a  certain 
something),  which,  however,  is  a  very  vague  and  intangible 
creed*  But  the  German  materialists  of  the  last  century 
were  intolerant  of  such  abstractions*  Thus  Buchner,  in  his 
*  Kraft  und  Stoff '  (*  Force  and  Matter '),  published  in  1855, 
maintained  that  force  was  inherent  in,  and  a  property  of, 
matter,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation,  as  Turgueniev  has 
shown  us  in  his  #  Fathers  and  Children/  to  the  Nihilism 
which  has  succeeded  in  achieving  the  ruin  of  Russia* 
Tyndall,  in  his  *  Heat  as  a  Mode  of  Motion/  proved  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  scientific  world  that  the  sun  must 
gradually  become  extinct,  but  not  before  it  had,  like  Cronos, 
consumed  its  own  planets*  This  melancholy  view  was 
later  corrected  by  the  hypothesis  of  Sir  William  Siemens, 
who  attributed  to  the  sun  a  heart-like  or  respiratory  action* 
To-day  it  is  the  fashion  to  place  force  before  matter,  the 
atom  being  composed  of  electrons*  In  all  these  various 
theories  and  articles  of  scientific  belief  in  nature,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  votaries  are  frequently  expected  to 
perform  really  admirable  acts  of  faith*  But  the  masses  go 
on  believing  in  God,  even  in  Russia,  where  a  thoughtful 
Bolshevik  Government  has  inscribed  in  sight  of  the  churches 
the  warning  words  :  *  Religion  is  opium  for  the  people/ 
Now,  it  has  been  argued  by  the  learned,  if  there  really 
is  a  God,  how  is  it  that  He  has  never  patently  manifested 
Himself  to  His  creatures  in  so  overwhelmingly  convincing 
a  manner  that  His  existence  would  be  permanently  removed 
from  the  region  of  speculation  and  incontrovertibly 
established  as  a  veritable  fact  i 

The  answer  to  this  is  that  God  has  indeed  repeatedly 
revealed  Himself  to  mankind,  but  never  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  compel  belief,  and  always  in  the  way  best  adapted  to 
the  state  of  the  minds  of  men  at  the  time*  We  have  seen 
in  our  chapter  on  the  Church  in  what  order  these  successive 
revelations  were  made,  and  in  the  following  passages  we 
will  endeavour  to  condense  within  the  compass  of  a  few 
pages  what  Swedenborg  has  to  say  about  God* 

God  is  one,  He  alone  has  being,  He  alone  is  essence* 
and  He  is  at  the  same  time  the  manifestation  of  being ;  He 


THE  GODHEAD 


219 


is  thus  the  esse  and  existere,  the  Jehovah,  *  Who  is  and  Who 
was  and  Who  is  to  come,  the  Almighty/  He  is  the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,  Love  (Alpha),  Wisdom 
(Omega),  and  sole,  very,  and  first  substance  and  form 
{substantia  et  forma ,  unicay  ipsa  et  prima).  The  word 
Jehovah  means,  I  am,  and  to  be  ( sum  et  esse).1  God  is 
infinite  and  eternal*  He  is  in  space  without  space,  and  in 
time  without  time* 

The  unity  of  God  [says  Swedenborg]  may  be  inferred  from 
the  creation  of  the  universe,  since  the  universe  being  a  coherent 
and  uniform  work,  from  first  to  last,  depends  upon  God,  as 
the  body  depends  upon  the  soul.  The  universe  is  so  created, 
that  God  may  be  omnipresent  therein,  and  keep  the  whole, 
with  all  its  parts,  under  His  government  and  observation,  and 
may  thus  maintain  it  in  perpetual  unity,  which  is  to  preserve 
it.  .  .  .  This  great  system,  which  we  call  the  universe,  is  a 
coherent  and  uniform  work,  from  first  to  last,  for  the  reason 
that  God  intends  but  this  one  end  in  its  creation — the  formation 
of  an  angelic  heaven  from  the  human  race  ;  and  all  the  things 
of  which  the  world  consists  are  means  for  the  promotion  of  this 
end  ;  for  the  desire  of  any  end  implies  also  a  desire  of  the 
requisite  means  for  its  attainment.  If  therefore  [Swedenborg 
continues]  we  regard  the  world  as  a  work  containing  means 
adapted  to  such  an  end,  we  may  also  regard  the  universe  of 
creation  as  a  coherent  and  uniform  work,  and  may  perceive 
that  it  is  a  complex  of  uses,  in  successive  work,  for  the  service 
of  the  human  race  out  of  which  is  formed  the  angelic  heaven. 
For  Divine  Love  cannot  design  any  other  end  than  the  eternal 
happiness  of  men,  by  a  communication  of  itself ;  and  Divine 
Wisdom  cannot  produce  any  thing  but  uses,  as  a  means  for  the 
attainment  of  that  end. 

By  contemplating  the  world  in  the  light  of  this  broad 
and  universal  idea,  any  wise  man,  Swedenborg  maintains, 
can  see  that  the  Creator  of  the  universe  must  be  one,  and 
in  His  essence  He  must  be  love  and  wisdom,  and  he  pro¬ 
ceeds  to  show  that  there  is  not  a  single  thing  in  existence 
but  has  its  uses,  some  hidden  and  more  or  less  remote,  for 
the  service  of  man. 

While  people  [he  says]  consider  only  particular  parts 
of  creation,  and  do  not  take  a  view  of  the  whole,  in  its  connected 

1  1  The  True  Christian  Religion,’  pp.  13,  19,  20,  21. 


220 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


series,  as  consisting  of  ends,  mediate  causes  and  effects ;  or 
while  they  do  not  refer  creation  to  its  true  source,  as  an  effect 
derived  from  Divine  love,  by  means  of  Divine  wisdom,  it  is 
impossible  they  should  see  that  the  universe  is  the  workmanship 
of  one  God,  and  that  He  has  His  abode  in  the  uses  of  every 
particular  thing  which  are  the  end  for  which  it  was  created* 
For  whatever  is  in  the  end  is  also  in  the  means  conducive 
thereto,  inasmuch  as  the  end  itself  is  in  all  the  means  acting 
in  them  and  producing  its  own  ultimate  purposes*  While 
men  consider  the  universe  as  not  the  workmanship  of  God, 
and  the  habitation  of  His  love  and  wisdom,  but  as  the  work¬ 
manship  of  nature,  and  the  habitation  of  the  sun's  light  and 
heat  alone,  they  close  up  the  superior  parts  of  their  minds 
against  the  admission  of  God,  and  open  the  inferior  parts 
thereof  for  the  admission  of  the  devil,  whereby  they  divest 
themselves  of  the  nature  of  men,  and  acquire  the  nature  of 
beasts,  not  only  believing,  but  actually  making  themselves,  like 
unto  them* 

Swedenborg  makes  a  distinction  between  the  esse  or 
being  of  God  and  His  essence  or  manifestation,  because, 
as  he  points  out,  there  is  a  distinction  between  the  infinity 
of  God  and  His  love,  the  first  being  an  attribute  of  His 
existence  and  the  other  of  His  essence  ;  for  His  esse  is  more 
universal  than  His  essence,  and  in  the  same  sense  His 
infinity  is  more  universal  than  His  love*  Infinite  is  thus 
an  adjective  to  the  essentials  and  attributes  of  God,  which 
are  described  as  infinite  ;  just  as  we  say  that  the  Divine 
Love  and  the  Divine  Wisdom  are  infinite,  also  the  Divine 
Power,  yet  the  esse  of  God  is  not  pre-existent  to  His 
essence,  but  enters  into  it  as  an  adjunct,  cohering  with, 
determining,  forming,  and  simultaneously  exalting  it*  Love 
and  Wisdom  are  the  two  essentials  to  which  all  the  infinite 
properties  that  are  in  God,  and  proceed  from  Him,  have 
relation*  This  was  known  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  world, 
but  the  knowledge  of  what  love  and  wisdom  are  in  their 
essence  has  been  lost  through  successive  generations 
becoming  immersed  in  worldly  and  corporeal  matters* 

Since  God  is  the  very,  the  sole,  and  thus  the  first  sub¬ 
stance  and  form.  Whose  essence  is  love  and  wisdom,  and 
since  all  things  which  are  made  were  made  by  Him,  it 
follows  that  He  created  the  universe  with  all  its  parts  from 


THE  GODHEAD 


221 


love  by  means  of  wisdom ;  consequently  Divine  Love, 
in  union  with  Divine  Wisdom,  must  be  in  all  and  every 
created  object.  But  love  is  not  only  the  essence  from  which 
all  things  are  formed ;  it  also  unites  and  conjoins  them, 
and  thus  keeps  them  in  order  and  connection.  This  may 
be  illustrated  from  the  analogy  of  the  heat  and  light  which 
proceed  from  the  sun  and  from  which  all  things  on  earth 
exist  and  subsist,  for  heat  and  light  exist  in  nature  because 
they  correspond  with  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom.  It  may 
be  further  illustrated  by  the  analogy  of  the  will  and  under¬ 
standing  in  the  human  mind  from  which  the  latter  exists 
and  subsists,  for  the  will  is  the  recipient  and  habitation  of 
love,  and  the  understanding  of  wisdom.  The  human  body 
also  exists  and  subsists  by  the  heart  and  lungs,  for  the  heart 
corresponds  to  the  will  and  hence  to  love,  and  the  lungs  to 
the  understanding  and  consequently  to  wisdom. 

God,  being  love  in  its  essence  and  the  essence  of 
wisdom,  is  therefore  good  itself  and  truth  itself,  for  good 
is  derived  from  love  and  truth  from  wisdom  ;  and  as  God 
is  love  itself  and  wisdom  itself,  God  is  life,  the  very  life 
itself.  Love  and  Wisdom  are  united  in  God  and  form 
one. 

Love  must  have  objects  on  which  to  bestow  itself. 
It  follows  therefore  that  the  essence  of  love  is  to  love 
others  out  of  or  outside  of  itself,  to  desire  to  be  one  with 
them  and  to  make  them  happy  from  itself.  This  is  so 
obvious  that  it  requires  no  further  elucidation,  but  it  was 
these  properties  of  the  Divine  Love  which  were  the 
cause  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  and  are  the  cause  of 
its  preservation. 

Having  shown  that  Divine  Love  and  Divine  Wisdom 
constitute  the  Divine  Essence,  Swedenborg  proceeds  to 
treat  of  the  omnipotence,  omniscience  and  omnipresence 
of  God,  and  states  that  these  are  the  properties  of  the 
Divine  Wisdom  derived  from  the  Divine  Love,  but  not 
of  the  Divine  Love  operating  by  means  of  the  Divine 
Wisdom.  For  according  to  the  law  of  influx — and  it  is 
inconceivable  that  God  should  act  contrary  to  His  own 
laws,  which  are  the  order  of  infinite  wisdom — love  enters 
by  universal  and  particular  influx  into  wisdom  and 


222 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


dwells  there,  like  a  king  in  his  kingdom,  or  a  master  in 
his  house,  relinquishing  to  wisdom  all  the  authority  of 
love,  and  to  judgment  all  the  authority  of  justice,  for 
justice  has  respect  to  love  and  judgment  to  wisdom* 
God  is  omnipotent,  omniscient  and  omnipresent,  there¬ 
fore,  by  means  of  the  wisdom  of  His  love,  and  this  is  what 
is  meant  by  the  statements  in  the  first  chapter  of  John, 
where  the  Word  means  Divine  Truth,  or  Divine  Wisdom, 
which  is  the  same  thing* 

Here  Swedenborg  interposes  the  following  definition 
of  order,  for,  as  he  explains,  the  omnipotence,  omniscience 
and  omnipresence  of  God  cannot  be  understood  until 
what  is  meant  by  order  be  known,  and  until  the  fact  that 
God  is  order  be  grasped* 

Order  [he  says]  is  the  quality  of  the  disposition,  determina¬ 
tion,  and  activity  of  the  parts,  substances,  or  entities,  which 
constitute  the  form  of  a  thing,  and  whereon  its  state  depends, 
the  perfection  of  which  is  produced  by  wisdom  operating  from  the 
lovet  or  the  imperfection  of  which  is  occasioned  by  perverse  reason 
operating  from  cupidity * 

In  this  definition  he  explains  that  although  mention 
is  made  of  substance,  form  and  state,  yet  that  by  substance 
he  means  at  the  same  time  form,  because  every  substance 
is  a  form,  and  the  quality  of  a  form  is  its  state,  the  perfection 
or  imperfection  of  which  results  from  order* 

God  is  order,  because  He  is  very  substance  and  form 
itself,  for  all  subsisting  things  derived  originally,  and 
continue  to  derive,  their  existence  from  Him  :  moreover, 
all  the  quality  of  substances  originally  arose  from  Him, 
and  continues  to  do  so,  and  quality  can  only  be  derived 
from  form*  Being  order  itself,  God  necessarily  introduced 
order  into  the  universe  and  all  its  parts  ;  evils  had  birth 
together  with  hell  after  creation* 

It  follows  that  God  is  omnipotent,  for  He  has  all 
power  from  Himself,  and  all  other  things  derive  their 
power  from  Him*  His  power  and  will  are  one  ;  and 
since  He  wills  nothing  but  what  is  good,  for  He  is  essential 
good,  He  can  do  nothing  but  good*  Thus  His  omnipotence 
proceeds  and  operates  within  the  sphere  of  the  extension 


THE  GODHEAD 


223 


of  good,  which  is  infinite  ;  for  this  sphere  fills  the  universe 
from  its  inmost  centre,  and  all  and  everything  therein, 
and  from  thence  governs  the  things  outside,  so  far  as 
they  enter  into  conjunction  with  it  according  to  their 
respective  order ;  and  where  they  do  not  enter  into 
conjunction,  this  sphere  nevertheless  supports  and  labours 
to  reduce  them  to  a  state  concordant  with  that  universal 
order  in  which  God  is  in  His  omnipotence,  and  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  which  He  acts.  Where  this  cannot  be  effected, 
He  still  supports  them  from  that  inmost  centre.  The 
Divine  omnipotence,  by  entering  into  actual  contact 
with  anything  evil,  would  have  to  go  out  of  itself,  as  it 
were,  and  this  would  be  contrary  to  Divine  order,  for 
evil  turns  itself  away,  and  in  consequence  is  entirely 
separated  from  God,  and  automatically,  so  to  speak, 
precipitated  into  hell,  between  which  and  Heaven  there 
is  a  great  gulf  fixed,  God  would  be  acting  in  direct 
opposition  to  His  own  goodness  (which  is  inconceivable) 
if  He  condemned,  cursed,  or  cast  into  hell,  or  predestined 
human  souls  to  eternal  damnation,  or  avenged  injuries, 
punished,  or  was  capable  of  anger,  Swedenborg  asserts  on 
the  contrary  that  *  He  cannot  even  turn  His  face  from 
anyone,  or  regard  him  with  the  least  severity  of 
countenance,  these  and  the  like  acts  being  contrary  to 
His  essence,  and  consequently  contrary  to  Himself/ 

To  picture  to  oneself  a  God  capable  of  acting  with  the 
arbitrary  recklessness  of  an  oriental  despot,  is  to  create 
God  in  our  own  image,  and  is  manifestly  absurd  and 
unphilosophical.  It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated  that 
God  is  order  because  He  is  love  and  wisdom. 

The  omniscience  of  God,  Swedenborg  teaches, 
consists  in  His  perceiving,  seeing,  and  knowing  all  and 
everything,  even  to  the  most  minute,  that  is  done  accord¬ 
ing  to  order,  and,  by  that  means  also,  whatever  is  done 
contrary  to  order.  That  God  is  omniscient  is  the  logical 
consequence  of  His  being  Wisdom  itself  and  Light  itself, 
and  it  is  Wisdom  itself  which  perceives  all  things,  and 
Light  itself  which  sees  all  things.  From  the  things  which 
are  according  to  order,  God  perceives,  knows,  and  sees 
all  and  everything  that  is  done  contrary  to  order — this 


224 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


follows  as  a  consequence  of  His  withholding  man  from 
evil  and  striving  with  him.  This  continual  striving, 
struggling,  resistance,  repugnance,  and  reaction  of  evil 
and  falsity  against  good  and  truth,  i.e.  against  Himself, 
God  perceives  both  in  its  quantity  and  quality,  for  it  is 
a  consequence  of  His  omnipresence  in  all  and  every  part 
of  His  own  order,  and  at  the  same  time  of  His  omniscience 
of  all  and  everything  that  occurs  or  exists  in  it.  Now 
as  God  perceives,  sees,  and  knows  all  the  relatives  in 
Heaven,  by  virtue  of  the  order  in  which  He  is  Himself, 
He  in  consequence  perceives,  sees,  and  knows  all  the 
opposite  relatives  in  hell,  and  it  is  therefore  evident  that 
God  is  omniscient  in  hell  as  well  as  in  Heaven  and  also 
among  men  on  earth  ;  and  that  He  thus  perceives,  sees, 
and  knows  their  evils  and  falsities  by  virtue  of  the  good 
and  truth  in  which  He  is  Himself. 

God  is  omnipresent  in  all  the  gradations  of  His  own 
order.  This  is  effected  by  the  heat  and  light  from  the 
spiritual  sun  in  which  He  Himself  is.  By  means  of  this 
sun  order  was  first  established,  and  there  is  a  continual 
emanation  or  efflux  of  heat  and  light  issuing  thence  which 
pervades  every  part  of  the  universe,  from  first  to  last, 
producing  life  and  vegetation.  Since  God  is  not  extended, 
and  yet  fills  every  extense  of  the  universe,  therefore  He 
is  omnipresent.  By  His  omnipresence  God  sees  all 
things,  by  His  omniscience  He  provides  for  all  things, 
and  by  His  omnipotence  He  operates  all  things,  hence 
omnipresence,  omniscience,  and  omnipotence  make  a 
one,  the  one  implying  the  others,  so  that  they  cannot 
admit  of  separation. 

Man  was  created  a  form  of  Divine  order,  having  been 
created  in  the  form  and  image  of  God.  There  is  a  corre¬ 
spondence  between  the  angelic  heaven  and  man,  insomuch 
that  there  is  not  a  single  society  in  that  heaven  which  does 
not  correspond  with  some  part  of  the  human  organism ; 
moreover,  that  heaven  is  a  form  of  Divine  order  in  its 
largest  portraiture,  and  appears  in  the  sight  of  God  as  a 
single  man.  All  things  which  proceed  from  the  sun  of 
the  spiritual  world  have  some  resemblance  to  man,  and 
whatever  things  exist  in  that  world  have  a  general  tendency 


THE  GODHEAD 


225 


to  the  human  form,  which,  in  their  inmost  essences,  they 
exhibit ;  whence  all  the  visible  objects  in  that  world  are 
representatives  of  mam 

God  before  creation  was  Love  itself  and  Wisdom 
itself  in  their  respective  tendencies  to  effect  uses*  Hence 
it  appears  that  the  universe  was  created  by  God  for  the 
existence  of  uses,  on  which  account  it  may  be  called  a 
theatre  of  uses  ;  and  since  man  is  the  principal  end  of 
creation  it  follows  that  all  and  everything  were  created 
for  his  sake,  and  therefore  that  all  the  properties  of  order, 
both  in  general  and  in  particular,  were  collected  into 
him,  and  concentrated  in  him,  to  the  intent  that  God  by 
him  might  effect  primary  uses. 

Now,  as  God  is  the  creator  of  the  universe,  and  is  in 
Himself  very  being  and  existence,  it  follows  that  this 
Divine  Esse  cannot  produce  another  independent  and 
self-existing  Deity ;  in  other  words,  it  is  illogical  to  postulate 
the  existence  of  another  God  of  the  same  essence. 

The  production  of  a  God  [says  Swedenborg]  is  a  thing 
impracticable  and  not  to  be  supposed,  inasmuch  as  Essential 
Divinity,  which  is  Esse  and  Existere  in  itself,  could  not  possibly 
have  place  in  such  a  production.  It  is  the  same  thing  whether 
we  use  the  terms  begotten  by  God,  or  proceeding  from  Him ; 
in  both  cases  we  must  suppose  a  God  to  be  produced  by  a  God, 
and  this  differs  little  from  the  creation  of  a  God.  Therefore 
to  introduce  into  the  church  a  belief  that  there  are  three  divine 
persons,  each  of  whom,  singly  and  by  Himself,  is  God,  and  of 
the  same  essence,  and  one  born  from  eternity,  and  the  third 
proceeding  from  eternity,  is  utterly  to  destroy  the  idea  of  God's 
unity,  and  thereby  every  just  appreciation  of  the  Godhead, 
and  thus  to  banish  all  the  spirituality  of  reason  from  the  mind. 

What  becomes  of  the  Athanasian  Creed  and  the 
Christian  religion  after  that  i  The  Athanasian  Creed 
has  already  been  faithfully  dealt  with  in  the  chapter  on 
the  Church,  and  we  shall  now  proceed  to  examine 
Swedenborg's  Christianity. 

In  his  book  entitled  4  The  True  Christian  Religion/ 
Chapter  II  is  devoted  to  *  The  Lord  the  Redeemer/ 
In  explaining  the  title  thus  chosen  he  says  :  4  By  the  Lord 
the  Redeemer  we  mean  Jehovah  in  the  humanity ;  for 

Q 


226 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


that  Jehovah  Himself  descended  and  assumed  the  humanity 
for  the  purpose  of  redemption  will  be  proved  in  the 
following  pages/  He  then  continues  as  follows  : 

It  is  believed  at  this  day  in  all  Christian  churches  that 
God,  the  Creator  of  the  universe,  begot  a  Son  from  eternity, 
and  that  this  Son  descended,  and  assumed  the  humanity  for 
the  purpose  of  redeeming  and  saving  mankind ;  but  this  is  a 
great  error  and  is  overturned  by  its  own  absurdity,  if  it  be  only 
considered  that  God  is  one,  and  that  it  is  a  more  than  fabulous 
imposition  on  reason  to  suppose  that  one  God  should  beget 
any  Son  from  eternity ;  and  further,  that  God  the  Father, 
together  with  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  each  whereof  singly 
and  by  Himself  is  God,  form  but  one  God*  This  fabulous 
description  of  the  Deity  totally  vanishes  like  a  meteor  in  the 
air,  when  by  demonstration  from  the  Word  Jehovah  God 
Himself  is  proved  to  have  descended  and  to  have  been  made 
man  and  to  be  also  the  Saviour,  or  Redeemer* 

Swedenborg  then  quotes  various  passages  from  the 
Bible  in  which  reference  is  made  to  the  coming  of  our 
Lord,  viz . : 

Isaiah  vii*  14  and  Matthew  i*  23* — Behold  a  virgin  shall  con¬ 
ceive  and  shall  bring  forth  a  Son,  who  shall  be  called  God 
with  us * 

Isaiah  ix*  6* — Unto  us  a  Child  is  born,  unto  us  a  Son  is 
given  :  the  government  shall  be  upon  his  shoulder ;  and  his 
name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Hero,  the  Father 
of  Eternity ,  the  Prince  of  Peace* 

Isaiah  xxv*  9* — It  shall  be  said  in  that  day,  Lo,  this  is  our 
Godt  we  have  waited  for  him ;  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice  in 
his  salvation* 

Isaiah  xl*  3,  5*— The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
Prepare  ye  the  way  of  Jehovah ;  make  straight  in  the  desert 
a  highway  for  our  God  :  and  all  flesh  shall  see  him  together* 

Isaiah  xl*  10-11. — Behold  the  Lord  Jehovah  will  come  in 
strength,  and  his  arm  shall  rule  for  him  :  behold  his  reward 
is  with  him  ;  he  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd. 

Zechariah  ii*  10-11* — Thus  saith  Jehovah ,  Sing  and  rejoice, 
O  daughter  of  Sion ;  for  lo,  I  come  and  I  will  dwell  in  the  midst 
of  thee  :  and  many  nations  in  that  day  shall  cleave  to  Jehovah ♦ 

Isaiah  xlii*  6,  8* — I  Jehovah  have  called  thee  in  righteousness, 
and  will  give  thee  for  a  covenant  of  the  people*  I  am  Jehovah  ; 
that  is  my  namet  and  my  glory  will  I  not  give  to  another * 


THE  GODHEAD 


227 


Jeremiah  xxiii.  5-6  ;  xxxiii.  15-16. — Behold  the  days 
come,  saith  Jehovah,  that  I  will  raise  unto  David  a  righteous 
branch  who  shall  reign  as  a  King,  and  prosper  and  shall  execute 
judgment  and  justice  in  the  earth  ;  and  this  is  his  name  Jehovah 
our  righteousness ♦ 

He  also  refers  to  many  other  passages  to  show  that 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  was  called  the  Day  of  Jehovah ♦ 

That  Jehovah  Himself  descended,  and  assumed  the 
humanity  [he  continues]  is  very  evident  from  this  passage  in 
Luke  :  4  Then  said  Mary  unto  the  angel,  How  shall  this  be, 
seeing  I  know  not  a  man  i  And  the  angel  answered  and  said 
unto  her.  The  Holy  Spirit  shall  come  upon  theef  and  the  power 
of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee  ;  therefore  also  that  Holy 
Thing  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God  / 
(i*  34-35)  * 

and  in  Matthew : 

Behold  the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Joseph  in  a 
dream  and  said  unto  him,  Fear  not  to  take  unto  thee  Mary  thy 
wife  ;  for  that  which  is  conceived  in  her  is  of  the  Holy  Spirit . 
And  Joseph  knew  her  not  till  she  had  brought  forth  her  first¬ 
born  son  ;  and  he  called  his  name  Jesus,  (i.  20-25.) 

After  stating  that  every  child  receives  its  soul  and 
life  from  his  father,  Swedenborg  asks  : 

How  then  could  it  be  more  plainly  expressed  in  words, 
that  the  Lord  received  His  soul  and  life  from  Jehovah  God  i 
And  since  the  Divine  is  indivisible,  what  can  be  more  evident 
than  that  the  Divine  of  the  Father  was  the  Lord's  soul  and  life  i 
Therefore  the  Lord  so  often  calls  Jehovah  God  his  Father, 
and  Jehovah  God  calls  Him  His  Son.  What  then  can  be  more 
ridiculous  than  to  say,  that  the  soul  of  our  Lord  was  derived 
from  His  mother,  Mary.  ♦  .  .  i 

Swedenborg  also  quotes  a  number  of  passages  from 
the  Bible  to  show  that  Jehovah  Himself  declared  Himself 
to  be  the  Saviour  and  Redeemer  of  the  world  (e.g., 
Isaiah  xliii.  5,  7,  8,  xlix.,  lx. ;  Hosea ;  Jeremiah  ;  the 
Psalms) ;  and  he  maintains  that  it  must  be  evident  to 
every  one  from  these  passages  *  that  God  who  is  One, 
descended,  and  was  made  man  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
the  work  of  redemption/ 


228 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


He  then  proceeds  to  show  *  why  God  could  not  redeem 
mankind — that  is  to  say,  deliver  them  from  damnation 
and  hell — by  any  other  process  than  that  of  assuming 
the  humanity*  For  redemption/  he  explains, 

consisted  in  reducing  the  hells  into  subjection,  and  bringing 
the  heavens  into  an  orderly  arrangement,  afterwards  renewing 
the  Church  on  earth  ;  and  there  was  no  other  possible  means 
by  which  the  omnipotence  of  God  could  effect  these  purposes 
than  by  assuming  the  humanity ;  just  as  there  is  no  possibility 
for  a  man  to  work  without  hands  and  arms ;  therefore  in  the 
Word,  the  humanity  is  called  *  the  arm  of  Jehovah ,  (Isaiah  xh 
io ;  liii*  i)*  ♦  ♦  ♦  For  God  to  have  effected  the  redemption 
without  assuming  the  humanity,  would  have  been  as  impossible 
as  for  Europeans  to  subdue  the  Indies  without  soldiers  and 
shipping*  ♦  .  *  For  Jehovah,  as  He  is  in  Himself,  cannot  by 
all  His  Omnipotence  approach  any  devil  in  hell,  or  any  devil 
on  earth  so  as  to  curb  his  fury  and  subdue  his  violence,  unless 
He  be  in  ultimate,  as  He  is  in  first,  principles ;  and  He  is  in 
ultimates  in  His  humanity,  therefore,  in  the  Word,  He  is  called 
the  First  and  the  Last,  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  Beginning 
and  the  End* 

Jehovah  God,  Swedenborg  proclaims,  descended  into 
the  world  as  the  Divine  Truth,  which  is  the  Word,  but, 
being  indivisible,  He  did  not  separate  the  Divine  Good 
from  it*  We  have  seen  that  the  essence  of  God  is  con¬ 
stituted  of  Divine  Good  and  Divine  Truth,  or  Divine 
Love  and  Divine  Wisdom,  and  these  two  constituents 
are  signified  in  the  Word  by  the  name  Jehovah  God,  for 
by  Jehovah  is  signified  Divine  Love,  and  by  God  Divine 
Wisdom*  In  the  Word  these  names  are  used  separately 
or  together,  but  always  in  this  sense*  Swedenborg  shows 
that  the  passage  in  John,  *  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God* 
All  things  were  made  by  him ;  and  without  him  was  not 
any  thing  made  that  was  made/  makes  it  evident  that 
Jehovah  God  descended  as  the  Divine  Truth,  which  is 
the  Word*  He  adds  : 

The  reason  why  Divine  Truth  is  there  signified  by  the 
Word,  is  because  the  Word  which  is  received  in  the  Church  is 
Divine  Truth  itself ;  for  it  was  dictated  by  Jehovah  Himself, 


THE  GODHEAD 


229 


and  whatever  is  dictated  by  Jehovah  is  Divine  Truth  in  its 
purity,  and  can  be  nothing  else*  As,  however,  the  Word  passed 
through  all  the  heavens  until  it  reached  the  lower  world,  it  was 
accommodated  to  the  angels  in  Heaven  and  also  to  men  on  earth : 
hence  there  is  in  the  Word  a  spiritual  sense,  in  which  the  Divine 
Truth  shines  with  its  full  light,  and  also  a  natural  sense,  in  which 
the  Divine  Truth  is  respectively  shaded  and  obscure  ;  therefore 
the  Divine  Truth  residing  in  this  Word  is  what  is  signified  in 
John.  This  is  further  confirmed  by  this  consideration,  that 
the  Lord  came  into  the  world  to  fulfil  the  whole  Word  ;  for 
which  reason  we  so  often  read  of  His  doing  this  and  that  thing, 
that  the  Scriptures  might  be  fulfilled.  Nor  is  aught  else  but 
Divine  Truth  understood  by  the  words  4  Messiah/  or  4  Christ/ 
or  by  the  Son  of  Man,  or  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter, 
Whom  the  Lord  sent  after  His  departure  out  of  the  world. 

Swedenborg  then  shows  by  quotations  that  the  Lord 
spoke  of  Himself  as  the  Truth ♦  That  God,  although  He 
came  down  as  the  Divine  Truth,  did  not  separate  the 
Divine  Good  from  it  is  evident,  Swedenborg  points 
out,  from  His  conception,  concerning  which  it  is  written 
that  the  power  of  the  Highest  overshadowed  the  Virgin 
Mary,  the  power  of  the  Highest  signifying  the  Divine 
Good.  Moreover,  the  Lord  Himself  repeatedly  declared 
that  the  Father  was  in  Him,  and  that  He  was  in  the  Father, 
that  all  things  the  Father  had  were  His  ;  and  that  He 
and  the  Father  were  One.  In  all  these  references  to 
the  Father,  Swedenborg  tells  us,  the  Divine  Good  is 
signified. 

We  have  seen  that  God  is  order,  and  that  He  operates 
according  to  the  laws  of  His  own  order.  It  follows, 
therefore,  as  Swedenborg  explains,  that,  seeing  that  God 
did  descend  into  the  world,  it  was  necessary,  with  a  view 
to  His  becoming  Incarnate,  that  He  should  go  through 
the  processes  of  His  own  order,  namely,  that  He  should 
go  through  the  processes  of  conception,  gestation,  and 
birth  ;  that  He  should  be  educated  and  trained,  and  thus 
introduced  to  intelligence  and  wisdom.  With  respect, 
therefore,  to  the  Humanity,  He  was  an  infant,  child,  and 
youth,  like  all  other  human  beings,  with  this  difference 
only,  that  He  accomplished  the  different  stages  of  His 
progress  to  manhood  more  rapidly,  more  fully,  and  more 


230  REASONABLE  RELIGION 

perfectly  than  others*  Indeed,  this  appears  from  the 
Gospels* 

All  this  process  [Swedenborg  explains]  was  accomplished 
because  Divine  order  requires  that  a  man  should  prepare  him¬ 
self  for  the  reception  of  God  ;  and  in  proportion  as  he  so  pre¬ 
pares  himself,  God  enters  into  him  as  into  His  house  and 
habitation*  Such  preparation  is  effected  by  means  of  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  the  spiritual  doctrines  of  the  church, 
and  a  consequent  intelligence  and  wisdom ;  for  it  is  a  law  of 
order  that  in  proportion  as  a  man  approaches  and  draws  nigh 
unto  God,  which  he  ought  to  do  entirely  as  of  himself,  in  the 
same  proportion  God  approaches  and  draws  nigh  unto  him, 
and  conjoins  Himself  to  him,  in  the  middle  region  of  the  mind* 

The  Lord,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  in  His  Humanity, 
proceeded  according  to  this  order,  even  to  union  with 
His  Father,  for  that  Humanity  is  the  Son  of  God*  *  With 
respect  to  the  Lord/  Swedenborg  says,  *  what  was  Divine 
appertaining  to  Him  was  from  the  Father  Jehovah,  and 
what  was  human  from  the  mother,  and  these  two  united 
are  the  Son  of  God/  as  is  indeed  stated  in  the  passage 
from  Luke  already  quoted* 

Yet  the  Lord  [Swedenborg  states  later]  when  He  glorified 
His  Humanity,  put  off  all  that  He  had  received  from  His 
mother,  and  put  on  all  that  belonged  to  His  Father*  *  *  *  That 
no  one  can  see  the  Father,  or  know  Him,  or  come  unto  Him, 
or  believe  in  Him,  except  by  His  Humanity,  is  declared  by  the 
Lord  in  numerous  places* 

Swedenborg  then  proceeds  to  show  that  all  Christian 
Churches  to-day  assert  and  believe  that  the  Lord  alone 
has  righteousness,  by  virtue  of  His  obedience  to  His 
Father  during  His  abode  in  the  world,  and  particularly 
by  His  passion  on  the  cross,  but  that  the  passion  on  the 
cross  is  imagined  to  be  the  very  act  of  redemption  :  this 
Swedenborg,  however,  explains  to  be  an  error,  the  passion 
on  the  cross  having  been  the  glorification  of  His  Humanity* 
Redemption,  he  says,  consisted  in  bringing  the  hells  into 
subjection,  and  the  heavens  into  order,  and  in  thus  pre¬ 
paring  the  way  for  a  new  spiritual  Church* 


THE  GODHEAD 


231 


That  redemption  consists  in  these  three  things  [he  explains] 
I  can  declare  with  the  utmost  certainty,  since  the  Lord  at  this 
day  also  accomplished  a  redemption,  which  was  begun  in  1757, 
together  with  the  Last  Judgment,  which  was  then  executed. 

He  further  declares  that 

Now  is  the  Lord's  Second  Advent,  and  a  new  church  is  to 
be  established,  which  could  not  be  effected  unless  the  hells 
were  first  reduced  into  subjection  and  the  heavens  restored  to 
order  ;  and  as  I  was  permitted  to  see  the  whole  process  of  this 
work,  I  could  describe  in  what  manner  the  hells  were  subdued, 
and  the  new  heaven  was  formed  and  arranged  ;  but  the  descrip¬ 
tion  would  take  up  an  entire  volume.  With  respect,  however, 
to  the  Last  Judgment,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  executed, 
I  have  published  an  account  of  it  in  a  small  treatise,  printed  in 
London  in  the  year  1758.  That  the  subjugation  of  the  hells, 
the  restoration  of  the  heavens  to  order,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  new  church,  constitute  redemption,  is  a  truth  grounded 
in  this  fact,  that  without  such  a  process  no  man  could  have  been 
saved.  The  parts  of  that  process  also  follow  each  other  in  an 
orderly  connection ;  for  it  is  necessary  that  the  hells  should 
be  subdued  before  a  new  angelic  heaven  could  be  formed,  and 
the  formation  of  a  new  heaven  is  equally  necessary  to  the 
establishment  of  a  new  church  on  earth  ;  for  human  beings 
on  earth  are  so  connected  with  the  angels  of  heaven  and  the 
spirits  of  hell,  that  to  whichever  they  are  joined,  they  make  one 
with  them  as  to  the  interiors  of  their  minds. 

Swedenborg  further  quotes  many  passages  from  the 
Word  confirming  his  statement  that  the  Lord,  during  His 
abode  in  the  world,  fought  against  the  hells  and  reduced 
them  to  obedience.  He  crystallises  this  doctrine  in  the 
following  comprehensive  sentence  : 

Jehovah  God  descended  and  assumed  the  Humanity  for 
the  purpose  of  reducing  to  order  all  things  in  Heaven  and  the 
Church  :  since  at  that  time  the  power  of  the  devil,  i.e.  of  hell, 
prevailed  over  the  power  of  heaven,  and  on  earth  the  power  of 
evil  over  the  power  of  good,  in  consequence  a  total  damnation 
was  at  hand  and  threatened  every  creature.  This  impending 
damnation  Jehovah  God  removed  by  His  Humanity,  and  thus 
redeemed  both  angels  and  men  :  from  whence  it  is  evident, 
that  unless  the  Lord  had  come  into  the  world,  no  flesh  could 


232 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


have  been  saved.  The  case  is  similar  at  this  day ;  consequently, 
unless  the  Lord  come  again  into  the  world,  no  flesh  can  be 
saved. 

He  explains  that  the  angels  could  not  have  stood  in 
their  state  of  integrity  had  not  redemption  been  effected 
by  the  Lord. 

At  the  time  of  the  Lord's  first  coming  [he  avers]  the  hells 
had  grown  to  such  a  height,  that  they  filled  the  whole  world 
of  spirits,  which  is  in  the  middle  between  heaven  and  hell,  and 
had  thereby  not  only  disturbed  the  last  or  lowest  heaven,  but 
had  also  made  attempts  upon  the  middle  heaven,  which  they 
infested  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  and  which  would  have 
been  destroyed  unless  the  Lord  had  protected  it.  Such 
insurrection  of  the  hells  is  signified  by  the  tower  which  was 
built  in  the  land  Shinar,  whose  head  was  to  reach  unto  Heaven, 
which  attempt  was  prevented  by  the  confusion  of  tongues,  when 
the  builders  were  dispersed,  and  the  city  was  called  Babel. 

Now  the  whole  angelic  heaven  together  with  the  church 
on  earth  is  before  the  Lord  as  a  single  man,  whose  internal  .  .  ♦ 
is  the  angelic  heaven  and  whose  external  is — the  church  ; 
or  .  .  .  the  highest  heaven  constitutes  the  head ;  the  second 
and  lowest  ♦  .  ♦  the  breast  and  middle  region  of  the  body ; 
the  church  on  earth  .  .  .  the  loins  and  feet ;  and  the  Lord 
Himself  is  the  soul  and  life  of  that  whole  man. 

Unless  the  Lord  had  effected  redemption  this  man  must 
have  been  destroyed ;  the  feet  and  loins  must  have 
perished  by  the  defection  of  the  Church  on  earth ;  a 
general  mortification  would  have  set  in  which  would 
have  threatened  the  whole  organism.  Hence,  unless  the 
Lord  had  performed  the  work  of  redemption  no  man 
could  have  been  saved,  nor  could  the  angels  have  main¬ 
tained  their  integrity.  The  only  refuge  against  destruc¬ 
tion  is  in  the  Lord,  as  He  has  Himself  taught  in  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  John.  But  this  redemption  could  not 
have  been  effected  by  Jehovah  God  in  His  infinite  essence, 
for  if  He  had  only  breathed  on  the  denizens  of  hell  they 
would  have  been  instantly  deprived  of  life.  Swedenborg 
aptly  illustrates  this  by  the  analogy  of  the  sun,  whose 
rays  must  traverse  the  air  before  they  can  enter  an 
organism  on  earth,  or  traverse  the  water  before  they  can 


THE  GODHEAD 


233 


affect  fish,  4  for  it  is  necessary  it  should  act  by  means  of 
the  element  in  which  the  subject  of  its  operation  dwells/ 
Hence  the  Incarnation  was  necessary*  The  passion  of  the 
cross  was  not  redemption,  but  the  last  temptation  which 
the  Lord  endured  as  the  Grand  Prophet ;  it  was  also  the 
means  of  the  glorification  of  His  Humanity,  or,  in  other 
words,  of  the  union  with  the  Divinity  of  His  Father* 
This  uniting  of  the  Lord's  Humanity  with  the  Divinity 
of  His  Father  was  effected  by  successive  steps,  and  was 
fully  completed  by  His  cross  and  passion.  Every  man 
should  approach  God  in  the  same  way,  and,  as  he  so 
approaches  Him,  God  enters  in  the  same  proportion* 
Conjunction  is  effected  by  temptations,  for  in  these  man, 
to  all  appearance,  is  abandoned  and  left  alone  to  himself ; 
this,  however,  is  only  an  appearance,  for  it  is  at  such 
times  that  God  is  most  present  with  man  in  the  inmost 
principles  of  his  mind,  and  supports  him*  Consequently, 
when  a  man  conquers  in  temptation  he  is  then  most 
intimately  conjoined  with  God.  This  was  the  case  with 
the  Lord.  That  the  Lord  in  His  Humanity  experienced 
similar  feelings  is  proved  by  His  exclamation  on  the  cross  : 
*  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  i  '  Yet 
He  was  fully  aware  of  His  Divinity,  for  He  said  :  *  No  man 
taketh  my  life  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself.  I 
have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it 
again*  This  commandment  have  I  received  of  my  Father  9 
(John  x*  18).  Swedenborg  contends  that  it  is  evident 
from  this  that  the  Lord  did  not  suffer  as  to  His  Divinity, 
but  only  as  to  His  Humanity,  and  that  at  the  time  of 
suffering  *  the  most  intimate,  and  thereby  the  most  com¬ 
plete,  union  was  effected*' 

He  furthermore  insists  on  the  importance  of  keeping 
distinct  in  one's  mind  the  two  ideas  of  redemption  and 
of  the  cross  and  passion*  He  then  points  out  that  the 
Lord  was  willing  to  be  tempted  even  to  the  suffering  on  the 
cross  because  He  was  the  Grand  Prophet ;  and  prophets 
formerly  signified  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  derived  from 
the  Word,  and  thence  they  represented  the  Church  by 
various  emblems  and  acts  according  to  its  nature  and 
quality*  But  the  Lord,  since  He  was  the  Word  Incarnate, 


234 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


by  His  sufferings  on  the  cross  as  the  Prophet,  represented 
the  Jewish  Church,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  it  had  pro¬ 
faned  the  Word*  Moreover,  He  could  thus  be  acknow¬ 
ledged  in  the  heavens  as  the  Saviour  of  both  worlds ;  for 
the  particulars  of  His  cross  and  passion  were  emblematic 
of  the  profanation  of  the  Word,  and  were  understood  by  the 
angels  in  the  spiritual  sense* 

Thus  Swedenborg  shows  that : 

The  Lord,  as  the  Prophet,  represented  the  state  of  the  Jewish 
church  with  respect  to  the  Word,  as  is  evident  from  the  parti¬ 
culars  of  His  sufferings*  *  *  *  His  being  betrayed  by  Judas 
signified  that  He  was  betrayed  by  the  Jewish  nation,  who  were 
in  possession  of  the  Word,  and  were  represented  by  Judas  : 
His  being  taken  and  condemned  by  the  chief  priests  and  elders 
signified  that  He  was  dealt  with  in  like  manner  by  the  whole 
Jewish  church ;  His  being  buffeted,  and  spit  upon,  scourged 
and  struck  on  the  head  with  a  reed,  signified  that  the  like  had 
been  done  to  the  Word  with  regard  to  its  Divine  truths ;  His 
being  crowned  with  thorns  signified  that  the  Jewish  nation  had 
falsified  and  adulterated  Divine  truths  ;  the  division  of  His 
garments,  and  the  casting  of  lots  upon  His  vesture  signified 
that  they  had  dissipated  all  the  truths  of  the  Word,  but  had 
not  injured  its  spiritual  sense,  which  the  Lord's  vesture  or 
tunic  represented  ;  His  crucifixion  signified  the  destruction 
and  profanation  of  the  whole  Word  ;  the  offering  Him  vinegar 
to  drink  signified  that  the  truths  of  the  Word  were  altogether 
falsified,  wherefore  He  did  not  drink  it ;  the  piercing  of  His 
side  signified  that  they  had  totally  extinguished  all  the  truth 
and  all  the  good  of  the  Word  ;  His  burial  signified  the  rejection 
of  what  remained  from  the  mother ;  His  rising  again  on  the 
third  day  signified  His  glorification  or  the  union  of  His 
Humanity  with  the  Divinity  of  the  Father* 

*  To  bear  iniquities/  Swedenborg  points  out,  *  does 
not  mean  to  remove  them,  but  to  represent  the  profanation 
of  the  truths  of  the  Word*' 

Here  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Swedenborg  concludes 
from  Genesis  xiii*  7  that  there  was  hereditary  evil  from 
the  mother  with  the  Lord*  He  shows  that  it  is  quite 
impossible  for  any  man  to  be  born  of  a  human  parent 
without  deriving  evil  from  his  progenitors,  but  that  there 
is  a  difference  between  hereditary  evil  derived  from  the 


THE  GODHEAD 


235 


father  and  that  derived  from  the  mother*  The  evil 
inherited  from  the  father  is  more  internal,  and  though  it 
can  be  overcome  and  be  kept  down,  it  can  never  be  totally 
eradicated ;  thus,  as  we  have  seen,  the  angels  are  indeed 
withheld  from  evil,  but  are  not  entirely  devoid  of  it*  The 
Lord  could  have  no  such  evil,  having  been  born  of  Jehovah, 
and  being  thus  as  to  His  internals  Divine,  or  Jehovah,  for 
God  is  indivisible*  Hereditary  evil  from  the  mother, 
however,  adheres  to  the  external  man.  The  Lord,  having 
been  born  as  any  ordinary  man,  had  infirmities,  like  any 
other  man,  derived  from  His  mother.  This  is  obvious 
from  the  fact  that  He  suffered  temptation,  for  it  is  impos¬ 
sible  for  anyone  to  be  tempted  who  has  no  evil,  evil  being 
that  in  man  which  tempts  and  by  means  of  which  he  is 
tempted*  We  are  told  that  the  Lord  was  tempted,  and 
that  He  suffered  temptations  a  thousand  times  more 
grievous  than  any  man  could  possibly  sustain,  and  that  He 
endured  them  alone,  and  by  His  own  power  overcame  evil, 
or  the  devil  and  all  hell*  That  the  Lord  bore  the  iniquities 
and  evils  of  mankind  is  a  form  of  speaking  common  with 
preachers  ;  but  He  could  not  have  taken  upon  Himself 
iniquities  and  evils  otherwise  than  in  the  way  above  indi¬ 
cated,  for  the  Divine  is  not  susceptible  of  evil.  In  order 
to  overcome  evil  by  His  own  strength,  which  no  man  ever 
could  or  can  do,  He  was  willing  to  be  born  as  a  man,  and 
to  come  into  the  world  and  put  on  evil,  so  as  to  fight  against 
and  conquer  it  and  thus  join  together  in  Himself  the  Divine 
Essence  and  the  Human*  He  however  put  off,  by  acts  of 
redemption,  the  whole  humanity  which  He  had  from  His 
mother,  and  put  on  a  humanity  from  the  Father,  which  is 
the  Divine  Humanity,  so  that  in  Him  Man  is  God  and  God 
Man.  This  was  effected  by  His  passing  through  the  two 
states  of  exinanition  and  of  glorification,  for  Divine  order 
requires  that  a  man  should  dispose  himself  for  the  reception 
of  God,  and  prepare  himself  to  be  a  receptacle  and  habita¬ 
tion  into  which  God  may  enter  and  dwell,  as  in  His  own 
temple*  Man  should  do  this  of  himself,  yet  acknowledging 
that  it  is  an  effect  of  Divine  influence,  for  he  does  not 
perceive  the  presence  and  operation  of  God,  Who,  never¬ 
theless,  produces  in  him  by  His  presence  and  operation 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


236 

all  the  good  of  love  and  all  the  truth  of  faith*  This  is  the 
order  of  procedure  for  man  from  natural  to  spiritual,  and 
the  Lord  proceeded  in  the  same  order  for  the  purpose  of 
making  His  natural  humanity  Divine*  In  this  state  God 
appears  to  be  absent,  man,  as  has  been  said,  not  perceiving 
His  presence ;  but  this  state  is  succeeded  by  another,  which 
is  conjunction  with  God,  in  which  man  acts  as  in  the  former 
state,  but  now  consciously  from  God*  In  this  manner  the 
Lord  united  Himself  (or  rather  His  Humanity)  to  His 
Father,  and  the  Father  Himself  to  Him*  In  short,  the 
Lord  glorified  His  Humanity,  i*e*  made  it  Divine,  by  a 
process  similar  to  that  by  which  He  regenerates  a  man — 
viz *,  makes  him  spiritual. 

The  Divine  miracles,  Swedenborg  avers,  were  also 
effected  in  accordance  with  Divine  order,  namely,  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  order  of  the  influx  of  the  spiritual  world  into  the 
natural*  Thus  they  were  never  arbitrary. 

Having  demonstrated  that  the  Father  and  the  Son  are 
one,  Swedenborg  treats  of  the  Holy  Ghost : 

Properly  speaking  [he  says]  the  Divine  Truth  and  con¬ 
sequently  the  Word  is  signified  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  this 
sense  the  Lord  Himself  is  also  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  whereas, 
in  the  Church  at  this  day  the  Divine  operation  which  is  specified 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  actual  justification,  therefore  this  Divine 
operation  is  here  considered  as  the  Holy  Ghost*  Of  this  we 
now  propose  chiefly  to  speak,  especially  as  the  Divine  operation 
is  effected  by  means  of  the  Divine  Truth  which  proceeds  from 
the  Lord ;  and  that  which  proceeds  is  of  one  and  the  same 
essence  with  him  from  whom  it  proceeds,  like  these  three,  the 
soul,  the  body  and  the  proceeding  virtues,  which  together  form 
one  essence  ;  in  a  man  a  merely  human  essence,  but  in  the 
Lord,  divine  and  human  also  ;  these  being,  after  His  glorifica¬ 
tion,  united  together  like  the  prior  with  its  subsequent,  and 
like  essence  with  its  form  ;  thus  the  three  essentials,  called 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  are  a  one  in  the  Lord*  The  Lord 
is  Divine  Truth  and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  also  the  same,  as  is 
evident  from  these  passages* 

Here  Swedenborg  quotes  extensively  from  the  prophets 
and  the  Gospels,  giving  overwhelming  evidence  in  support 
of  his  assertion.  Of  these,  perhaps  the  most  authoritative 


THE  GODHEAD 


237 


passage  is  from  John  xv*  26  :  *  When  the  Comforter  is 
come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  even 
the  Spirit  of  truth,  he  shall  testify  of  me/ 

Since  the  Divine  Truth,  which  was  in  the  Lord,  and  was 
the  Lord  (John  xiv*  6),  is  meant  by  the  Holy  Ghost  [Swedenborg 
continues],  and  since  the  Holy  Ghost  could  therefore  proceed 
only  from  Him,  it  was  for  this  reason  said  *  The  Holy  Ghost 
was  not  yet  {given)  ;  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified/ 
(John  vii.  39.)  And  after  His  glorification,  He  breathed  on 
His  disciples  and  said,  *  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost/  (John 
xx*  22.) 

Nevertheless,  Swedenborg  maintains  that  there  is  a 
Divine  Trinity  consisting  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
but  that  these  three  are  the  three  essentials  of  one  God, 
which  makes  a  one,  like  soul,  body,  and  operation  in  a  man* 
Before  the  creation  of  the  world  this  Trinity  did  not  exist, 
but  it  was  provided  and  made  since  the  creation,  when  God 
became  Incarnate,  and  then  centred  in  the  Lord  God,  the 
Redeemer  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ* 

How  does  this  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  fit  in  with  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  which  Swedenborg  admits  to  be  true  i 
In  that  Creed  Jesus  Christ  is  described  as  the  only  Son, 
Our  Lord,  of  God  the  Father  Almighty,  as  having  been 
conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary* 
This  is  exactly  what  Swedenborg  contends*  But  further 
He  is  described  as  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  God  the 
Father  Almighty*  This,  obviously,  is  an  allegory.  What 
is  the  right  hand  of  God  i  In  the  (  Arcana  Coelestia  ' 
Swedenborg  says  that  to  sit  at  the  right  hand  denotes  a 
state  of  power ;  the  statement,  therefore,  in  the  Apostles' 
Creed  fully  substantiates  Swedenborg's  teaching* 

In  conclusion  Swedenborg  asserts  that  henceforth  no 
Christian  can  be  admitted  into  Heaven  unless  he  believes 
in  the  Lord  God  and  Saviour,  and  approaches  Him  alone* 
This  may  seem  a  hard  saying  to  some,  but  when  we  re¬ 
member  that  all  souls  on  their  leaving  the  human  body 
are  first  admitted  to  the  world  of  spirits,  where  they  are 
prepared  for  their  ultimate  destiny  and  instructed  in 
heavenly  truths,  it  loses  much  of  its  apparent  harshness* 


CONCLUSION 


In  the  preceding  pages  the  message  and  teachings  of 
Swedenborg  in  their  principal  features  have  been  passed 
before  the  reader  in  rapid  review*  Whatever  attitude  may¬ 
be  assumed  towards  his  claim  of  inspiration,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  he  has  expounded  a  singularly  harmonious 
and  logical  system  of  philosophy  and  religion*  His  work, 
all  must  agree,  is  essentially  constructive*  The  funda¬ 
mental  truths  which  the  Christian  Churches  of  all  denomi¬ 
nations  teach  are  explained  and  rationalised  by  him,  the 
errors  explained  and  refuted*  He  presents  to  us  a  theory 
of  the  cosmos  which  is  neither  miraculous  nor  self-contra¬ 
dictory  ;  moreover,  he  elucidates  everything*  In  the  light 
of  his  teaching  we  can  understand  the  mythologies  of  the 
ancients  as  well  as  we  can  harmonise  the  modern  achieve¬ 
ments  of  science*  All  is  made  plain ;  nor  are  we  asked  to 
accept  as  infallible  truth  any  dogma  obviously  contrary 
to  reason*  But  he  does  ask  us  to  believe  that  he  has  seen 
with  his  own  eyes  the  things  he  describes,  and  that  he  was 
Divinely  instructed  as  to  what  he  should  write*  Indeed, 
this  he  repeatedly  avers*  Is  this  too  great  a  demand  on  our 
credulity  i  We  accept  Moses  and  the  prophets,  we  accept 
the  Bible  as  the  foundation  of  our  belief,  why  should  we 
assume  that  the  well-spring  of  Divine  revelation  should 
have  dried  up,  and  that  no  further  revelations  are  to  be 
expected  i 

After  all  every  ingenuous  mind  must  admit  that  a  fresh 
revelation  has  become  very  necessary*  The  discoveries  of 
science  have  made  the  early  Christian  cosmogony  no  longer 
tenable*  Geologists  have  proved  that  the  world  took  more 
than  six  days  to  create,  astronomers  have  shown  that  this 


CONCLUSION 


239 


insignificant  planet  is  but  a  minute  speck  in  the  great 
system  of  the  universe,  and  that  it  is  illogical  to  suppose 
that  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  called  into  being  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  dancing  attendance  on  our  compara¬ 
tively  small  and  insignificant  earth* 

Then  there  is  the  higher  criticism,  as  it  is  called,  which 
has  severely  shaken  the  very  foundations  of  Christianity 
by  disputing  the  authenticity  of  the  Bible*  But  perhaps 
the  most  serious  blow  of  all  was  the  theory  of  evolution 
and  natural  selection  which  threatened  to  destroy  our  belief 
in  the  supernatural  altogether. 

Is  it  contrary  to  reason  to  believe  that  just  about  the 
time  when  these  new  scientific  theories  were  being  formu¬ 
lated  God  should  have  appointed  a  human  instrument  to 
reveal  to  the  world  the  mysteries  of  life,  and  to  restore  faith 
and  hope  to  His  creatures  i  On  the  contrary  it  seems 
characteristic  of  the  ways  of  Providence. 

But  what  are  Swedenborg's  credentials  i  Christ 
warned  His  disciples,  and,  through  them,  the  world, 
against  false  prophets*  How  do  we  know  that  Swedenborg 
was  not  an  impostor  i 

Well,  to  begin  with,  an  impostor  imposes  on  people 
for  his  own  purposes  and  for  his  own  advantage*  Such 
an  impostor,  for  instance,  was  the  famous  Cagliostro, 
the  great  adventurer  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who 
lived  sumptuously  on  the  credulity  of  his  dupes*  But 
Swedenborg,  a  sober  man  of  science,  a  technical  official 
of  his  government,  instead  of  making  money  or  achieving 
rank  and  position  by  his  revelations,  on  the  contrary, 
found  it  expedient  to  resign  his  office*  As  for  rank  and 
station,  these  he  had  already — they  could  not  be  renounced. 
He  was  a  conscientious,  patriotic,  and  painstaking  member 
of  the  Swedish  Upper  House,  the  friend  and  confidant  of 
kings  and  queens*  Yet  he  cared  little  for  the  social 
distinction  which  his  unique  position  conferred,  but 
willingly  abandoned  the  capital  of  his  country,  where  he 
was  known  and  held  in  universal  esteem,  to  go  and  live 
in  humble  lodgings  in  an  obscure  part  of  London — for 
his  means,  though  sufficient,  were  slender — in  order  to 
superintend  the  printing  and  publishing  of  his  works,  of 


240 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


the  sale  of  which  he  was  as  little  solicitous  as  of  any  other 
worldly  matter,  though  he  was  far  from  being  an  austere 
recluse,  but  was,  on  the  contrary,  a  cheerful  companion 
noted  for  the  elegance  and  distinction  of  his  manners,  the 
sprightliness  of  his  conversation,  and  the  neatness  of  his 
dress,  which  was  yet  simple  and  unostentatious ♦  Such  a 
man  was  no  vulgar  impostor.  Nevertheless,  it  is  conceiv¬ 
able  that  he  might  have  been  a  false  prophet.  There  is, 
however,  another  touch-stone  by  which  he  can  be  tested, 
and  that  is  in  his  work. 

He  has  in  the  simplest  and  frankest  manner  placed  in 
our  hands  a  method  of  testing  the  truthfulness  of  his 
statements;  it  is  the  key  which  he  has  given  us  to  the 
Scriptures,  It  is  by  that  test  that  he  must  stand  or  fall, 
Swedenborg  teaches  that  every  object  in  nature  is  what  he 
calls  *  a  correspondence/  a  representative  of  a  spiritual 
truth,  and  that  in  the  spiritual  world  spiritual  truths  are 
represented  by  similar  objects.  This  being  the  case,  it 
follows  that  the  Bible  was  written  by  *  correspondences/ 
that  is  to  say  that  the  statements  in  the  Bible,  which  appear 
to  us  to  be  merely  statements  of  fact,  are  really  full  of 
unsuspected  spiritual  truth  which  we,  when  reverently 
reading  it,  unconsciously  assimilate,  just,  or  very  much, 
as  we  assimilate  natural  food,  for  we  are  unconscious  of  the 
processes  within  us  which  enable  us  to  derive  nourishment 
from,  say,  a  handful  of  rice  or  a  dish  of  potatoes.  Now,  if 
Swedenborg's  system  of  correspondences  will  not  hold 
water,  but  should  lead  to  contradictions  and  absurdities, 
then  obviously  all  his  pretensions  must  fall  to  the  ground. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  that  the  deeper  we  investigate 
this  theory,  the  more  widely  we  apply  it,  the  more  per¬ 
fect  it  appears,  then  we  must  admit  that  Swedenborg 
has  at  least  strong  claims  to  our  further  study  and  research. 
The  reader  of  the  preceding  pages  will  have  noted  that 
Swedenborg  has  built  up  his  whole  system  of  religion  and 
philosophy  on  his  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  and  has 
produced  a  homogeneous,  symmetrical,  and  harmonious 
system  in  plain,  straightforward,  and  unsophisticated 
language.  The  test  has  been  applied  by  himself,  before 
our  eyes,  and  his  system  has  stood  it  triumphantly.  We 


CONCLUSION 


241 


can  apply  it  ourselves,  carry  out  control  experiments,  as  it 
were,  and  we  shall  obtain,  if  we  do  not  mask  the  test  or 
use  it  improperly,  the  same  result*  Indeed,  his  system 
works  out  like  a  mathematical  formula. 

Besides  giving  us  an  easy  and  simple  means  of  testing 
his  own  bona  fides ,  Swedenborg  has  thus  been  the  chosen 
instrument  of  saving  the  Bible  from  desecration.  What 
signifies  it  to  us  whether  the  higher  criticism  asserts  that 
certain  books  were  not  written  by  their  reputed  authors  i 
It  is  their  spiritual  teaching  that  is  alone  of  importance. 

Some  of  the  recent  theories  of  modern  philosophers 
might  almost  have  been  directly  derived  from  a  study  of 
Swedenborg.  Take,  for  instance,  the  sociological  views 
of  Herbert  Spencer.  That  philosopher  maintained  that 
society  was  an  organism.  This  is  in  complete  agreement 
with  Swedenborg's  statement  that  the  angelic  heaven  is 
a  grand  man,  and  that  every  angelic  society  is  also  a  man. 
Then,  who  can  read  John  Stuart  Mill's  4  Essay  on  Liberty  ' 
without  acknowledging  that  the  sociological  views  of  that 
great  economist  are  in  substantial  agreement  with  those 
of  the  Swedish  seer  i  Emerson  in  his  *  Representative 
Men  '  even  asserts  that  Swedenborg  foreshadowed  the 
theory  of  evolution,  but  this  view  is  not  largely  shared, 
nor  does  it  appear  well  founded.  The  manner  of  the 
creation  of  man  seems  of  little  real  importance  to  the 
religious  mind.  It  suffices  for  us  to  know  that  God  is 
order,  and  never  proceeds  contrary  to  His  own  order, 
hence  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  the  creation  of  man 
proceeded  also  on  orderly  lines. 

At  the  International  Swedenborg  Congress,  held  in 
London  in  1910,  Professor  Max  Neuberger,  M.D.,  Pro¬ 
fessor  of  the  History  of  Medicine  at  the  University  of 
Vienna,  in  an  address  on  *  Some  Important  Accordances 
between  Swedenborg  and  Modern  Physiologists,'  stated 
that : 

Representatives  of  all  branches  of  science,  on  both  sides 
of  the  ocean,  among  them  world-famed  explorers,  vie  with  one 
another  in  extolling  Swedenborg  as  a  pioneer  in  the  most 
heterogeneous  spheres,  in  searching  out  the  influence  of  his  ideas, 
in  proving  the  wonderful  accord  of  many  of  his  doctrines  with 

R 


242 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


the  principles  and  achievements  of  modern  science*  .  .  ♦  Each 
one  endeavours  to  outbid  the  other  in  the  scientific  recognition 
of  the  northern  seer,  whose  surprisingly  manifold  attainments 
were,  till  a  very  short  time  ago,  a  terra  incognita  for  the  majority 
of  learned  men*  *  *  *  From  day  to  day  [he  added]  the  number 
of  concords  between  Swedenborg's  ideas  and  recent  biology 
increases.  The  doctrine  of  uses  no  longer  forms  an  obstacle 
as  it  did  some  decades  ago.  .  ♦  ♦ 

Of  the  English  men  of  science  who  may  be  included 
in  the  above  number  it  is  sufficient  to  name  Sir  Alfred 
Russel  Wallace  and  Sir  Oliver  Lodge. 

Of  Swedenborg's  numerous  achievements  in  the 
domain  of  science  the  formulation  of  the  nebular  theory, 
for  which  he  allowed  Laplace  to  take  the  credit,  is  perhaps 
the  best  known.  The  4  Transactions  '  of  the  International 
Congress  above  referred  to  contain  many  tributes  from 
eminent  men  of  science  from  all  parts  of  the  world  record¬ 
ing  his  versatility  and  the  great  variety  of  his  discoveries. 

His  influence  on  literature  was  not  less  widespread. 
We  know  that  Goethe  was  a  desultory  student  of  his 
writings,  and  sought  in  the  4  Arcana  Coelestia  *  material  for 
the  second  part  of  Faust ♦  In  France  Balzac  had  read  his 
works  to  greater  advantage,  and  in  England  Coleridge, 
the  Tennysons,  the  Brownings,  FitzGerald,  Coventry 
Patmore,  and  Carlyle  were  all  more  or  less,  the  last  the 
least,  indebted  to  him. 

But  perhaps  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  con¬ 
nected  with  Swedenborg  is  the  extraordinary  progress  in 
every  branch  of  mental  effort  that  has  followed  his  phe¬ 
nomenal  appearance.  We  have  seen  that  he  main¬ 
tained  that  the  revelation  of  the  internal  or  spiritual  sense 
of  the  Bible,  of  which  he  had  been  the  human  instrument, 
was  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  Who  has  4  come,  in 
clouds  descending/  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  which 
partly  obscures  its  spiritual  meaning,  being  the  clouds, 
and  the  Word  being  Divine  Truth.  Whether  we  believe 
this  statement  or  not,  or  whether  it  appears  a  little  too 
difficult  for  our  comprehension,  one  thing  is  beyond 
dispute,  and  that  is  that  the  world  of  to-day  is  a  totally 
different  place  to  live  in  from  what  it  was  two  hundred 


CONCLUSION 


243 

years  ago.  In  no  other  period  of  history  have  there  been 
so  many  striking  and  fundamental  changes,  nor  are  these 
changes  purely  of  a  material  and  external  character  ;  they 
are  spiritual  as  well.  During  the  last  century  there  is  no 
exaggeration  in  saying  that  the  religious  revival  was 
phenomenal  and  unprecedented.  While  Watt  invented 
steam  in  1765,  and  Wheatstone  harnessed  electricity  to 
the  telegraph  in  the  early  years  of  the  last  century,  and 
while  these  two  inventions  were  destined  to  revolutionise 
the  world,  the  social  changes  were  equally  great.  The 
rise  of  freedom  and  of  representative  government  all  over 
the  world  has  changed  the  mental  outlook  of  untold 
millions.  At  what  period  in  the  history  of  mankind  has 
there  been  so  great  and  radical  a  change  in  the  relations 
of  governors  and  governed,  of  rich  and  poor  i  The 
democracies  of  ancient  Greece  were  only  aristocracies  in 
disguise,  for  the  workers  were  slaves.  As  late  as  the 
eighteenth  century  the  working  classes  of  Europe  were 
still  virtually  in  the  same  condition.  It  is  only  since  the 
dawn  of  the  new  era,  of  which  Swedenborg  was  the  herald, 
that  we  have  seen  an  awakening  of  the  human  conscience 
and  a  recognition  that  human  beings  had  a  right  to  be 
happy  and  free,  whatever  their  social  condition.  We  have 
accomplished  much  in  this  short  time,  and  though  much, 
very  much,  still  remains  to  be  done,  we  are  living  in 
another  atmosphere.  The  wealthy  are  conscious  that 
they  are  but  stewards  for  others,  that  they  owe  their 
fellow-men  a  duty,  and  the  poor  are  neither  so  hopeless 
nor  so  miserable  as  they  were.  The  old  brutal  despair, 
of  which  history  records  so  many  evidences  in  the  past, 
has  given  way  to  hopeful  co-operation,  to  resolute  work. 

The  point  need  not  be  laboured,  the  facts  speak  for 
themselves,  in  every  department  of  life  there  has  been 
progress,  and  everywhere  there  seems  to  be  at  work  an 
upward  levelling  movement,  a  democratisation,  which  may 
have  its  transitory  aesthetic  disadvantages,  but  which  is 
nevertheless  slowly  but  surely  transforming  the  masses. 
Everybody  feels  that  we  are  living  in  wonderful  times. 
The  last  two  centuries  have  witnessed  the  emergence  of 
something  that  did  not  exist  before,  this  new  force  in  the 


244 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


world  is  called  public  opinion*  The  Romans  had  some 
glimmering  of  it  when  they  said  that  the  voice  of  the 
people  was  the  voice  of  God*  These  things  German 
philosophers  have  attributed  to  the  Zeitgeist,  the  Spirit 
of  the  Age*  But  whence  comes  that  spirit  i  Does  not 
Swedenborg  give  us  the  answer  i  Is  it  not  the  influx  from 
the  spiritual  world  i 

In  this  connection  there  has  been  an  extraordinary 
wave  of  what  is  called  Spiritualism*  Hard-headed  chemists 
and  physicists,  sceptical  medical  men,  have  discovered 
that  there  is  another  world,  beside  or  within  the  world 
we  live  in,  that  they  can  get  into  communication,  or  believe 
that  they  can  get  into  communication,  with  the  spirits  of 
departed  relations  or  friends*  Sceptics  sneer  and  scoff* 
Then  fair-minded,  unbiased,  critical  men  form  societies 
to  study  these  strange  alleged  spiritual  phenomena,  and 
some  remain  as  sceptical  as  they  were  before,  whilst 
others,  often  those  least  likely  to  be  convinced,  who  went 
to  scoff,  have  been  converted* 

With  regard  to  spiritualism  it  may  be  well  to  quote 
Swedenborg's  warning  note*  In  the  *  Apocalypse  Ex¬ 
plained/  he  shows  that  while  man  lives  in  the  world,  he 
is,  as  to  his  spirit,  in  the  midst  of  spirits  who  are  quite 
as  unconscious  of  this  as  he  is,  for  *  they  are  conjoined 
immediately  as  to  affections  of  the  will  and  mediately  as 
to  the  thoughts  of  the  understanding*'  For  man  thinks 
naturally,  and  spirits  spiritually,  and  these  two  kinds  of 
thought  cannot  be  communicated* 

But  as  soon  as  the  spirits  begin  to  speak  with  a  man  they 
come  out  of  their  spiritual  state  into  the  natural  state  of  the 
man ;  and  then  they  know  that  they  are  with  the  man  and 
conjoin  themselves  with  the  thoughts  of  his  affections,  and  from 
these  speak  with  him*  ♦  ♦  ♦  No  other  than  similar  spirits  speak 
writh  a  man,  or  manifestly  operate  upon  a  man*  *  *  *  Man  is 
ignorant  of  the  quality  of  his  own  affection,  whether  good  or 
evil,  and  with  what  other  beings  it  is  conjoined ;  and  if 
he  has  a  conceit  of  his  own  intelligence,  the  spirits  favour  every 
thought  that  comes  from  it* 

In  another  passage  he  says  :  ‘  It  is  rarely  permitted  to 


CONCLUSION 


245 

speak  with  spirits  at  the  present  day  because  this  is 
perilous/ 

And  again  :  *  When  spirits  begin  to  speak  with  a  man, 
he  ought  to  beware  to  believe  nothing  whatever  from 
them  ;  for  they  say  almost  anything*  Things  are  fabricated 
by  them  and  they  lie/ 

Finally : 

Spirits  can  be  introduced  who  represent  another  person  ; 
and  the  spirit,  as  well  as  any  one  who  has  been  acquainted  with 
the  spirit,  cannot  know  but  that  he  is  the  same.  .  .  ♦  Let  those 
who  speak  with  spirits  beware,  therefore,  lest  they  be  deceived 
when  these  say  that  they  are  those  whom  they  have  known  and 
who  had  died* 

Very  remarkable  progress  has  also  been  made  in 
modern  times  in  the  art  of  healing  ;  the  various  inventions 
connected  with  it,  and  the  importance  which  is  attached 
to  public  health,  and  more  especially  to  the  purity  of  our 
water  supply,  are  all  signs  of  the  times*  While  pure  water, 
which  is  representative  of  truth,  has  become  more 
abundant,  its  concomitant,  light,  has  also  been  more 
widely  diffused,  both  materially  and  intellectually*  To-day 
our  streets  and  houses,  nay  our  country  roads,  our  coasts 
and  harbours,  are  resplendent  with  light,  light  has  been 
thrown  even  on  the  dark  places  under  the  earth.  More¬ 
over,  thanks  to  steam  and  electricity,  light  has  been  shed 
on  the  deeds  of  men  and  the  events  in  the  world.  Every 
morning  the  press  reports  to  us  the  happenings  of  the 
previous  day.  Knowledge  has  been  placed  within  the 
reach  of  the  poorest.  In  the  eighteenth  century  it  was 
possible  for  Sheridan  to  put  into  the  mouth  of  Sir  Anthony 
Absolute  the  opinion  that  he  would  rather  have  a  young 
lady  taught  the  black  art  than  to  read  or  write,  but  in  less 
than  two  hundred  years  since  4  The  Rivals  ’  was  written 
education  has  become  compulsory  in  every  civilised 
country. 

Then  the  development  of  trade  and  manufactures  has 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  even  the  poorest,  articles  of 
clothing  and  domestic  use  undreamed  of,  by  even  the 
wealthiest,  two  hundred  years  ago. 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


246 

All  this  is  obvious,  writers  and  speakers  are  repeatedly 
dwelling  on  the  achievements  of  science  and  the  progress 
of  the  age,  but  few  ask  themselves  why  it  is  that  whereas 
from  the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire  to  the  time  of  the 
eighteenth  century — a  period  of  close  upon  two  thousand 
years — the  state  of  the  world  and  the  conditions  and  con¬ 
veniences  of  life  had  remained  virtually  stationary,  within 
the  last  two  centuries  life  has  been  practically  completely 
transformed,  and  conditions  and  conveniences  are  im¬ 
proving  and  increasing  almost  in  a  mathematical  pro¬ 
gression*  The  student  of  Swedenborg's  writings  would 
find  a  full  and  satisfying  answer  to  this  question* 

For  Swedenborg  was  no  religious  recluse  who  spent 
his  time  in  beatific  contemplation*  He  was  a  practical 
worker  and  a  man  of  action*  His  motto  was :  *  All 
religion  has  relation  to  life,  and  the  religion  of  life  is  to 
do  good*'  He  preached  useful  labour  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind*  His  doctrine  of  charity  gives  force  to  this 
view*  He  maintained  that  charity  and  good  works  were 
as  distinct  as  the  willing  to  do  good  and  the  actually  doing 
it,  and  that  *  charity  and  faith  are  utterly  unprofitable  to 
a  man  while  they  remain  only  in  one  hemisphere  of  his 
body,  that  is  in  his  head,  and  are  not  fixed  firm  in  works*' 
The  following  is  one  of  his  numerous  definitions  of  charity  : 

Charity  of  itself  consists  in  acting  justly  and  faithfully  in 
whatever  office,  business,  and  employment  a  person  is  engaged, 
because  everything  so  done  is  of  use  to  society,  and  use  is  good, 
and  good  in  the  abstract  is  our  neighbour*  *  *  *  A  king  who 
sets  his  subjects  an  example  of  well-doing,  is  desirous  that  they 
should  live  according  to  the  laws  of  justice,  recompenses  those 
who  do  so  live,  regards  every  one  according  to  his  merit,  secures 
them  against  injuries  and  invasion,  acts  as  the  father  of  his 
kingdom,  and  provides  for  the  common  prosperity  of  his 
people — such  a  king  has  charity  at  his  heart,  and  his  actions 
are  good  works*  A  priest  who  teaches  truths  from  the  Word, 
and  by  these  leads  his  flock  to  the  good  of  life  and  so  to  Heaven — 
such  a  priest,  since  he  provides  for  the  souls  of  those  who  belong 
to  his  church,  is  pre-eminently  in  the  exercise  of  charity*  A 
judge  who  judges  according  to  justice  and  law  and  is  not 
biased  in  his  judgment  by  bribes,  friendship,  or  relationship, 
provides  for  the  well-being  both  of  society  and  of  individuals* 


CONCLUSION 


247 


♦  ♦  *  A  merchant  or  trader  who  acts  from  a  principle  of 
sincerity,  and  not  of  deceit  or  fraud,  provides  for  the  welfare 
of  his  neighbour  with  whom  he  is  engaged  in  business.  The 
same  is  true  of  a  workman  or  artificer,  if  he  does  his  work 
uprightly  and  sincerely  and  not  fraudulently  and  with  deceit. 
So  also  in  all  other  cases,  as  with  captains  and  sailors,  farmers 
and  servants.  This  is  charity  itself,  because  charity  may  be 
defined  as  consisting  in  doing  good  to  the  neighbour  daily 
and  continually,  not  only  to  our  neighbour  individually,  but 
to  our  neighbour  collectively ;  and  this  cannot  be  effected  but 
by  a  man's  doing  what  is  good  and  just  in  whatever  office, 
business  and  employment  he  may  be  engaged,  and  with  whom¬ 
soever  he  may  have  any  connection,  for  this  he  does  daily ; 
and  when  he  is  not  in  its  immediate  exercise,  still  it  is  continually 
present  in  his  mind,  and  is  the  object  of  his  thoughts  and 
intentions.  The  man  who  thus  exercises  charity,  becomes 
more  and  more  charity  in  form  ;  for  justice  and  fidelity  form 
his  mind,  and  the  exercise  of  these  his  body  ;  so  that  in  process 
of  time,  from  the  form  thus  acquired,  he  wills  and  thinks 
nothing  but  what  has  some  relation  to  charity.  Such  persons 
at  length  become  like  those  described  in  the  Word,  of  whom 
it  is  said  they  have  the  law  written  in  their  hearts.  They  also 
place  no  merit  in  their  works,  for  they  never  think  of  merit 
but  only  of  their  duty,  which  as  good  citizens  they  are  bound  to 
perform. 

The  best  epitome  of  Swedenborg's  message  to  man¬ 
kind,  and  perhaps  conclusion  to  this  book,  is  the  following, 
which  forms  a  sort  of  preface  to  that  author's  *  True 
Christian  Religion  ' : 

The  Faith  of  the  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Church 

1.  The  reader  is  first  presented  with  a  view  of  faith  in  its 
universal  and  in  its  particular  form,  that  it  may  stand  as  a 
frontispiece  to  the  work  which  follows,  and  as  a  gate  of  intro¬ 
duction  to  the  temple,  and  as  a  compendium  or  summary 
wherein  all  the  particulars  that  follow  are  in  a  measure  included. 
It  is  called  the  faith  of  the  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Church, 
because  Heaven,  which  is  the  abode  of  angels,  and  the  Church, 
which  is  constituted  by  men  on  earth,  are  one  in  operation, 
like  the  internal  and  external  of  man.  Hence  every  member 
of  the  Church,  who  is  in  the  good  of  love  derived  from  truths 
of  faith,  and  in  the  truths  of  faith  derived  from  the  good  of 


REASONABLE  RELIGION 


248 

love,  is,  with  regard  to  the  interiors  of  his  mind,  an  angel  of 
Heaven  ;  and  therefore  after  death  he  enters  into  Heaven  and 
enjoys  happiness  therein  according  to  the  state  of  the  con¬ 
junction  subsisting  between  his  love  and  faith*  It  is  to  be 
observed,  that  in  the  New  Heaven  which  is  this  day  being 
established  by  the  Lord,  this  faith  is  cherished,  and  is  the 
frontispiece,  the  portal,  and  the  summary  thereof* 

2*  The  faith  of  the  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Church  in 
its  universal  form  is,  that  the  Lord  from  eternity,  Who  is 
Jehovah,  came  into  the  world  that  He  might  subdue  the  hells 
and  glorify  His  Humanity ;  that  without  Him  no  flesh  could 
have  been  saved ;  and  that  all  will  be  saved  who  believe  in 
Him* 

It  is  called  faith  in  its  universal  form,  because  this  is  the 
universal  of  faith,  and  the  universal  of  faith  is  what  enters  into 
all  and  every  particular  part  thereof*  It  is  a  universal  of  faith, 
that  God  is  one  in  essence  and  person,  in  Whom  there  is  a 
Divine  Trinity,  and  that  the  Lord  God,  the  Saviour,  Jesus 
Christ,  is  that  God.  It  is  a  universal  of  faith,  that  no  flesh  could 
have  been  saved  unless  the  Lord  had  come  into  the  world. 
It  is  a  universal  of  faith,  that  He  came  into  the  world  to  remove 
hell  from  man,  which  He  effected  by  combats  against  it ; 
whereby  He  subdued  it,  and  reduced  it  to  order  and  under 
obedience  to  Himself*  It  is  a  universal  of  faith,  that  He  came 
into  the  world  to  glorify  His  Humanity,  which  He  assumed 
in  the  world  ;  that  is,  to  unite  it  with  the  Divinity  of  which 
it  was  begotten ;  thus  He  keeps  hell  eternally  in  order  and 
under  obedience*  As  this  could  not  be  effected  except  by 
means  of  the  temptations  wherewith  He  suffered  His  Humanity 
to  be  assaulted,  even  to  the  last  and  most  extreme  of  all,  which 
was  His  passion  on  the  cross,  therefore  He  endured  that  suffer¬ 
ing*  These  are  the  universals  of  faith  concerning  the  Lord* 

The  universal  of  faith  on  man's  part  is,  that  he  should 
believe  on  the  Lord  ;  for  by  believing  on  Him  he  has  conjunc¬ 
tion  with  Him,  and  by  conjunction  salvation.  To  believe  on 
Him  is  to  have  confidence  that  He  will  save  ;  and  since  no  one 
can  have  such  confidence,  but  he  that  leads  a  good  life,  there¬ 
fore  this  is  also  implied  in  believing  on  Him*  To  this  purpose 
the  Lord  testifies  in  John  :  4  This  is  the  will  of  the  Father, 
that  every  one  that  believeth  on  the  Son  may  have  everlasting 
life  *  (vi.  40)  ;  and  in  another  place  :  4  He  that  believeth  on 
the  Son  hath  everlasting  life ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  the 
Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.' 
(iii*  36*) 


CONCLUSION 


249 

3.  The  faith  of  the  New  Heaven  and  the  New  Church  in  its 
particular  form  is,  that  Jehovah  God  is  essential  Love  and 
essential  Wisdom,  or  that  He  is  essential  Good  and  essential 
Truth  ;  and  that  as  to  the  Divine  Truth,  which  is  the  Word, 
and  which  was  God  with  God,  He  came  down  and  took  upon 
Him  human  nature  for  the  purpose  of  reducing  to  order  all 
things  which  were  in  Heaven  and  in  hell  and  in  the  Church  ; 
since  at  that  time  the  power  of  hell  prevailed  over  the  power 
of  Heaven,  and  on  earth  the  power  of  evil  over  the  power  of 
good  ;  in  consequence  whereof  a  total  damnation  was  at  hand 
and  threatened  every  creature.  This  impending  damnation 
Jehovah  God  removed  by  His  Humanity  which  was  the  Divine 
Truth  and  thus  He  redeemed  both  angels  and  men  ;  and  after¬ 
wards  He  united  in  His  Humanity  Divine  Truth  with  Divine 
Good,  or  Divine  Wisdom  with  Divine  Love,  and  thus  returned 
into  His  Divinity,  in  which  He  existed  from  eternity,  together 
with  and  in  His  glorified  Humanity.  This  is  signified  by  the 
words  in  John  :  *  The  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was 
God  ;  and  the  Word  was  made  flesh  '  (i.  1,  14)  ;  and  in  another 
place  :  4  I  came  forth  from  the  Father,  and  am  come  into  the 
world  ;  again,  I  leave  the  world  and  go  to  the  Father  *  (xvi.  28)  ; 
and  again  :  4  We  know  that  the  Son  of  God  has  come,  and  hath 
given  us  an  understanding  that  we  may  know  him  that  is  true, 
and  we  are  in  him  that  is  true,  even  in  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ. 
This  is  the  true  God  and  eternal  life  *  (I.  John  v.  20).  Hence 
it  is  manifest  that  unless  the  Lord  had  come  into  the  world, 
no  flesh  could  have  been  saved.  The  case  is  similar  at  this 
day  ;  and,  therefore,  unless  the  Lord  come  again  into  the  world 
in  the  Divine  Truth,  which  is  the  Word,  no  person  can  be  saved. 

The  particulars  of  faith  on  man's  part  are  : 

1.  That  God  is  One,  in  Whom  there  is  a  Divine  Trinity,  and 

that  He  is  the  Lord  God  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  That  a  saving  faith  is  to  believe  on  Him. 

3.  That  evil  actions  ought  not  to  be  done,  because  they  are 

of  the  devil,  and  from  the  devil. 

4.  That  good  actions  ought  to  be  done,  because  they  are  of 

God,  and  from  God. 

5.  And  that  a  man  should  do  them  as  of  himself ;  never¬ 

theless  under  this  belief,  that  they  are  from  the  Lord 

operating  with  him  and  by  him. 

The  first  two  particulars  have  relation  to  faith ;  the  next  two 
to  charity ;  and  the  last  respects  the  conjunction  of  charity 
and  faith  and  thereby  of  the  Lord  and  man. 


INDEX 


Adulteries,  classification  of,  83 
Adultery,  63 

Advent,  Second,  174-176,  179,  231 
Angels,  concerning,  in  Heaven, 
208-212 

Apostolic  succession,  168 
Arian  heresy,  171 
Arius,  170,  171 

Arnold,  Matthew,  on  the  sex 
question,  78 

Atonement,  doctrine  of,  172,  173 

Baptism,  151-158 

of  St.  John,  153,  155-157 
the  three  uses  of,  154 
Behm,  Albrecht,  1 
Benzelius,  Dr.  Ericus,  3,  22 
Bread,  daily,  137,  138 
Bruce,  Rev.  W.,  on  John  the 
Baptist,  1 55- 1 57 
on  the  daily  bread,  138 
on  regeneration,  141 
on  the  Holy  Supper,  148,  151 
Brunswick-Luneburg,  Duke  Lud¬ 
wig  Rudolph  of,  11 

Celibacy,  84 

Charity,  definition  of,  246,  247 
Charles  XII,  7-10 
Child,  Rev.  Thos.,  on  Lord’s 
Prayer,  132,  134,  135 
Christianity, explanation  of, 226-229 
Church,  159-180 

Christian,  162, 163, 169, 174, 1 77 
Faith  of  New,  247-249 
in  Heaven,  165 
in  Middle  Ages,  159 
Israelitish,  162,  163,  174 
Most  Ancient,  162,  174 
Roman  Catholic,  171 
Circumcision,  the  meaning  of,  153 
Clouds  of  Heaven,  meaning  of, 
178,  179 

Commandments,  57,  59,  65 
Conclusion,  238-249 
Conjugal  Love,  70-86 
Correspondences  of  the  body,  190 
science  of,  107 


Covetousness,  prohibition  of,  64,  65 
Creation,  28-31,  38 

allegory  of,  113,  114 
object  of,  45,  46 
true  source  of,  220,  225 
Creed,  Apostolic,  170,  237 

—  Athanasian,  170,  182 

—  Nicene,  170 

‘  Daedalus  Hyperboreus,’  7 
Death,  states  after,  201-204 
Degrees,  30,  35 

Dignities  and  riches,  origin  of,  99 
Divine  Providence,  92 

Eden,  allegory  of,  48-51 
Garden  of,  163 
Ethics,  57-69 

Evil,  hereditary,  52,  234,  235 
origin  of,  42-56 

Faiths,  diversity  of,  1 00-103 
False  witness,  63,  64 
Flammarion,  Camille,  on  the 
universe  and  immortality,  41 
Flood,  allegory  of,  114-116 
Fornication,  80,  81 
Fortune,  95 

God,  before  creation,  225  ; 
Humanity  of,  229-231  ;  name 
of,  61  ;  omnipotence  of,  222, 
223  ;  omnipresence  of,  219,  224  ; 
omniscience  of,  223,  224  ;  unity 
of,  219,  225 
Godhead,  217-237 
Golden  Age,  163 

Good  and  Truth,  marriage  of,  71, 
72,  76 

Gutenburg,  160 

Hands,  the  laying  on  of,  168 
Hartley,  Rev.  Thomas,  15,  21-23 
Heaven,  204 

Hell,  212-216  ;  composition  of, 
78,  79  ;  origin  of,  48,  54 
Hereafter,  197-216 
Holy  Ghost,  236 
Holy  Supper,  146-151 


252  REASONABLE  RELIGION 


Iron  Age,  164 

John  the  Baptist,  151,  153-157 
Judgment,  Day  of,  175 
Jung-Stilling,|i8 

Life,  origin  of,  26 
Louisa  Ulrica,  Queen,  18 
Love,  conjugal,  73,  83,  85,  86 
—  masculine  and  feminine,  7 3 
Luther,  Martin,  160 

Macaulay  on  progress  in  religion, 
161, 162 

Mahomedanism,  102 
Man,  appearance  of,  after  death, 
185,  200 

spiritual,  four  aspects  of,  181 
Marteville  incident,  19 
Messiah,  meaning  of,  229 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  on  liberty,  42, 241 
Murder,  62 

Neighbour,  love  of,  57,  58 
New  Jerusalem,  179,  180 
Nice,  Council  of,  162 
Numerals,  meaning  of,  118,  119 

Order,  definition  of,  222 

Parents,  obedience  to,  62 
Passion,  meaning  of,  230,  233,  234 
Passover,  145 

Peter,  Lord’s  words  to,  166,  167 
Philosophers  agreeing  with  Sweden¬ 
borg,  241,  242 
Polhammer  (Polhem),  4,  9 
Prayer,  1 23-1 42  ;  for  material 
benefits,  124,  125  ;  Lord’s,  130- 
140 

Predetermination,  45 
Priesthood,  166-168 

in  Roman  Catholic  Church,  1 7 1 
Progress  since  Swedenborg,  242,243 
Purgatory,  doctrine  of,  201 

Redemption,  230, 231  ;  need  of,  232 
Regeneration,  79,  189,  195,  196 
Renaissance,  159,  160 
Resurrection,  process  of,  199 
Revelation,  1 04-1 22 
Rules  of  Life  of  Swedenborg,  24 


Sabbath,  significance  of,  61 
Sacraments,  143-158 
Sacrifices,  significance  of,  117 
Salvation,  1 93, 1 94  ;  not  difficulty  16 
Selfishness,  52 
Self-love,  44,  53,  56 
Sex,  70-86  ;  in  Heaven,  74,  75 
Soul,  181-196  ;  ignorance  concern¬ 
ing,  183,  184  ;  immortality  of, 
183  ;  origin  of,  186  ;  relation  of, 
to  the  body,  186,  187  ;  seat  of, 
183, 184 

Spirits,  world  of,  201 
Spiritual  atmospheres,  34  ;  sun,  31 
Spiritualism,  244,  245 
Stockholm  fire,  19 
Subconscious  self,  191,  192 
Swedberg,  Dr.  Jesper,  1-3,  7 
Swedenborg,  Emanuel,  life  of,  1- 
24  ;  appointed  assessor  of  mines, 
8,  11  ;  ancestry  of,  1  ;  appear¬ 
ance  and  dress  of,  21 ;  at  Greifs- 
walde,  7  ;  betrothal  of,  9  ; 
birth  of,  1  ;  credentials  of,  239- 
241  ;  death  of,  17  ;  engineering 
work  of,  9  ;  ennobled,  10  ; 
family  connections,  1,  22  ; 

foreign  tours,  3,  5,  7,  11  ;  in¬ 
ventions  of,  6,  7  ;  political  ac¬ 
tivity  of,  13,  14,  20  ;  political 
economy  of,  13,  14  ;  religious 
works  of,  16,  17  ;  scientific 

work  of,  10-13  ;  shows  a  young 
lady  an  angel,  23  ;  spiritual 
sight  opened,  15  ;  visits  London, 
5  ;  visits  Paris,  6 

Taine,  H.,  evolution  of  English 
race,  54,  55 
Temptation,  139,  140 
Theft,  63 

Trinity,  doctrine  of  the  Divine, 
169,  170,  173,  225 
true  doctrine  of,  237 

Wars,  meaning  of  and  reasons  for, 
96 

Will  and  understanding,  188 
Word,  historical  parts  of,  116 
revelation  of,  109,  no 
World,  governance  of,  87-103 
Worship,  Divine  inspiration  of,  128, 
129 


Printed  in  England  by  Spottiswoode,  Ballantyne  &  Co.  Ltd.,  Colchester,  London  &  Eton 


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Reasonable  religion. 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00004  1360 


